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Money in the Bank? Spend it Strategically This year

by | Nov 14, 2023 | Business Strategy | 0 comments

Money in the Bank? Spend it Strategically This Year

Written by Kevin Martlage

So, you had a successful year as the owner of your tree care company. In 2024, you increased sales, managed your expenses, hired a few new employees, allocated raises for those employees, bought some new equipment, and are now ready to move into the ‘off season’ and start to plan for 2025. That move to the off season may seem exciting due to the profit margin you drove last year and the ‘extra’ money you now have in the bank at the end of your fiscal year. As a business owner, that situation, while exciting, can also add extra stress as you try to determine what to reinvest back into your business as you work towards your mission and strategy.

I have the honor to facilitate strategic planning with various organizations across the country.  Part of that planning is that I always encourage my clients to ‘take a deep breath’ at the end of every year, celebrate the success, but then refocus on the long-term sustainability of their company and employee support. This refocus and planning can be done in numerous ways, but the important thing is that you are strategic in how you approach your annual planning and budget allocations for the next year.

As an entrepreneur and owner of your own company it is sometimes difficult to stay strategic regarding planning and reinvestment back into the company especially if you had a great year. Why mess with a good thing right? Additionally, it is sometimes difficult to stay strategic if you happen to be managing your business from your checkbook or your next invoice, perhaps not reaching all the goals you set for the year. Regardless of how successful you are and the year you just had; it is important to stay strategic in determining what you are going to do with the “money in the bank” as you advance your company. My recommendation is to determine how to spend it strategically.

So, how do you start to strategically decide how to use that extra ‘money in the bank’ to further impact your organization? My suggestion is that you spend some time with your management team and use two of my favorite consultant tools known as, ‘start, stop, continue’ and good old fashion prioritization. By using the ‘start, stop, continue’ method you can begin to look at your organization critically regarding what’s next, what works, and what doesn’t. This review will ultimately help you determine what your strategic areas of focus should be as you reinvest in your company and your team. Once you begin to categorize your business into these areas you can then begin to prioritize next steps based on various factors such as budget, impact, resources, and effort.

The easiest way to begin this analysis is to think of your company in three critical areas: People, Process, and Product. As you review each category, ask yourself the following questions about each:

  • Start – What do we need to start doing that we haven’t done in the past?
  • Stop – What do we need to stop doing that is negatively impacting the company?
  • Continue – What do we need to make sure we continue to ensure sustainability

By reviewing these questions for each of the three critical areas (People, Process, Product) you will start to see trends and common themes that can be addressed. Once those themes have been identified, you can start to prioritize the items by looking at 4 additional areas of strategic review. Those areas include:

  • Cost / Budget
    • Start – What will it cost for us to implement the item(s)?
    • Stop – How much will we save if we stop the item(s)?
    • Continue – What is our return on investment if we maintain the item(s)?
  • Organizational and Strategic Impact
    • What is the overall impact this will have on our organization?
    • Pros?
    • Cons?
    • How does it align with our mission and goals?
  • Resources
    • Start – What resources will be needed to make this happen?
    • Stop – What resources will we save by eliminating the item(s)?
    • Continue – What resources are currently being used to maintain the item(s)?
  • Organizational Effort and Energy
    • Start – How much effort will be needed by the current team to implement?
    • Stop – How much time will it save the team if we no longer offer the item(s)?
    • Continue – How much energy is currently being devoted to the item(s) to maintain?

Completing a deep-dive review of the various areas you can then start to prioritize what is next and where you want to adjust to strategically impact your organization. There are numerous ways to prioritize, but a process I like to use is a simple exercise that requires you to compare each item individually against every other item being considered. This will help you identify the priority in how you want to strategically proceed if you are having issues in deciding. Typically, when you go through the start, stop, continue exercise and 2nd level review, it is clear the highest priority. However, if you are having issues in determining what is next, you can use the provided worksheet as a guide.

 

FREE Priority Worksheet from Nextier!

Having money in the bank is a good thing. Determining what to do with that extra money can be exciting, but also daunting, especially if you are new to the ownership / leadership game.  Thinking critically and strategically about your organization is difficult especially when you factor in the emotional ties and effort in building your company from the ground up. To help facilitate this review process, I encourage you to look at identifying a trusted advisor or outside consultant to help you navigate through this process and strategic advancement of your organization. While this typically requires a financial investment to contract with a consultant, the return on investment regarding the impact the outside support will provide typically pays for itself when done properly. This is especially true as you continue to reinvest in your team and their development while aligning their skills with the strategic direction of your organization.

The great Walt Disney once said,

“We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.”

This quote is very relevant as you continue to strategically evaluate your tree care company. Sure, we all want to make money, but it is the top-level tree care work that allows you to make that money to then reinvest in your company, your people, your equipment, and ultimately your customers. It is my humble opinion that the strategic stewardship of your profits, assets, resources, and team should be the focus of any owner/entrepreneur as they continue to impact their customers and the industry they love. That strategic focus and reinvestment will allow you to effectively advance your company, while building a sustainable foundation for continued ‘money in the bank’ and organizational impact.

 

If you are interested in having a conversation, or learning more, about how the Arborisk Thrive program and Consultants can help you strategically review and advance your company, please check out our Thrive website at: https://arboriskinsurance.com/arborisks-thrive/

What Is Your Leadership Passion

by | Oct 23, 2023 | Employee Management | 0 comments

What Is Your Leadership Passion?

Written by Kevin Martlage

When doing some research for this weekly tip, I ran across a January 2023 Forbes article written by John Hall titled, “With over 800 Definitions for Leadership, Here Are 5 You Need to Know and Why.” The number 800 caught my attention immediately and before reading the article I began to think to myself, are there really 800 definitions of Leadership and if so, how in the world is someone supposed to understand and utilize them all to become a great leader?  

While I pondered the question of pursuing leadership excellence and growth, I thought back to a quote from the great Vince Lombardi that provided some insight. One of the greatest football coaches of all time noted,

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

So how as a leader can we continue to ‘catch’ leadership excellence by chasing leadership perfection? My thought is you must not only define your leadership approach and style but more importantly your leadership passion. Without passion, excellence is always very difficult to pursue. There have been thousands of great leaders in this world and there will continue to be thousands more, but as a leader, how do you focus on impacting those you are leading as you ‘catch leadership excellence’ by chasing ‘perfection’? To help answer that question I’d like to provide you with some insight into my concept of defining your Leadership Passion.

Throughout my career I have had the opportunity to lead hundreds of great people across the country and around the world. While I had formal leadership training working for Xerox and Fedex Office, it was not until later in my career that I formerly defined my leadership approach and specifically my leadership passion. Understanding this was another turning point in my career and I’d like to share with you how I defined it to help you define yours.

As I think back about my career leadership opportunities, it is sometimes difficult to pin-point what specifically my approach was to each team. While I always ensured my big three (communication, transparency, and trust) were at the center of my leadership style, there was something else that I could never truly define. This missing definition was the “x-factor” or the unwritten thing that drove me to continue to strive to be a great leader. At the beginning of my career, it was all about the title, salary, and the ‘next step’ or promotion. Later, work-life balance and security became important as my wife, and I started our family. Eventually it then became more important for me to help facilitate change, impact, and the growth of those around me. While all those things are important and typical when you look at a leader’s work ‘life cycle’ I still could not define what my actual approach and definition was. What was it that drove me to strive to be a better leader? What helped me to continue to drive towards excellence? What was my why?

After a lot of reflection, understanding, and thought I realized that what helped me be a better leader was not my ability to drive results and teamwork through communication, transparency, and the building of trust, but it was my passion for the pursuit of transformation that allowed me to continue to focus on those things. A passion that was centered around helping others transform as they identified and reached their personal and professional goals. When I began to focus on others instead of myself, the passion level increased, and I was more effective leading organizations, employees, and teams on their path of growth and the transformation of their lives, work, and impact. This was especially true when I told my team about my leadership passion and approach. Communicating my passion and approach ensured we were on the same page from day one and allowed us to better understand each other as we continued forward together.

Transformation is never easy, but as I continued to focus my efforts on helping others become aware of their goals, impact, and ability it allowed me to become a more supportive and impactful leader as I pursued my passion of helping others. So, leader to leader, I’d like to ask you, what is your leadership passion? How would you define your leadership approach and how would your employees define it? What is your unique purpose when it comes to leadership and what is driving you to be the best leader you can be? Defining, understanding, and leveraging your Leadership Passion is something that I know can help anyone on their journey of pursuing leadership excellence.

To begin to define your Leadership Passion I would suggest reflecting on what you enjoyed most about each step in your career. Think past the obvious answers of more responsibility, more money, or a better title and focus on what was at the core of your happiness. While we all have good and bad days at the office, even the worst days have a glimmer of light if we really think about it. Perhaps that tough conversation with someone about performance eventually led to them having a personal awareness around how they impact the team which resulted in them becoming more of a team player. Maybe that difficult job that had to be completed over budget with lots of overtime helped you as a business owner identify a better approach to estimating and oversight. Whatever the situation, think critically about what it is in each step of your career that was ‘good’ and excited you as a leader. Some other questions might be:

  • What excited me about being a leader in that job?
  • What worked, and did I like, regarding my leadership approach?
  • Were there approaches to some teams that were more effective than others?
  • What seemed to resonate the most with the team regarding my approach?

Once you have some thoughts around those things, begin to then think about how you would then explain that to someone else. Don’t try to wordsmith your definition to death, but rather start to get some key terms identified that truly define your passion for leadership and your approach. As an example, I define my leadership passion and approach the following way:

“As a leader, I passionately pursue transformation through transparency,  communication, and trust while impacting and serving others.”

There is no right or wrong way to define your Leadership Passion and approach. Defining it takes time and you will probably revise it numerous times, however getting initial thoughts on paper is key as you begin to then communicate it to those you are leading. By letting those you are leading know and understand your definition you will continue to align your leadership approach with your team’s perception of that approach. This alignment will then allow your team to not only advance but will continue to enhance your impact as a leader. 

The 6th President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, summarized this thought about leadership passion and the pursuit of leadership excellence the best by saying,

“If your actions inspire other to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”

While there probably are 800 definitions of leadership, my challenge is that the true definition of leadership is how you define it and what works for you and the team you are leading. Focusing on your leadership passion and approach while letting those you are leading understand that approach is key to your continued success as a leader. 

 

If you are interested in having a conversation or learning more about defining your Leadership Passion be sure to check out our Thrive program at: https://arboriskinsurance.com/arborisks-thrive/

Seeing the Forest Because of the Trees

by | Oct 9, 2023 | Employee Management | 0 comments

Seeing the Forest

Because of the Trees

Written by Kevin Martlage

The idiom “Can’t see the forest for the trees” is one of those old sayings that can bring about many different interpretations based on the context in which it is being used. Typically, it is used when describing a person who cannot see the situation they are in because they get so consumed and lost in the details, they lose the perspective of the overall bigger issue. They are focused on the individual ‘trees’ and therefore are unable to understand the landscape of the entire ‘forest’. As a consultant, I see this all too often especially when it comes to supporting leaders and teams on their journey of developing and supporting a sustainable and transparent work environment. Additionally, the idiom becomes a reality when coaching individuals on their pursuit of continual improvement as a leader and business owner.

In previous articles I have written about using flashlights and mirrors to help develop your personal leadership skills and the leadership culture within your organization. The concept is simple and helps you review things by using two different tools: a flashlight and a mirror. The mirror is used to help you see and reflect on those things as the leader you are doing to grow, sustain, or detract from the impact you are making on your team and organization. The flashlight is used to help those you are leading see a unique perspective or point of view when it comes to their ability to help grow, sustain, or detract from their leadership ability and impact. As a leader it is important that you are using both to help enhance your leadership, while also leading and coaching your team to enhance theirs. Using the two tools together can help you and your team grow while building trust and using intentional communication which are both fundamental building blocks of any supportive and successful business culture.

So where does a leader obtain a flashlight and mirror capable of providing this insight? Additionally, how can you use those tools to help identify the ‘trees’ so that you fully understand the entire ‘forest’? I’m sure you can go down to any local hardware store and pick up a flashlight for $4.99 and a handheld mirror for less than that. Both are very simple to use and do not require any specific instructions other than making sure you put the AA batteries in correctly and you continue to keep your mirror clean, so it reflects properly.  Obviously, the idiom of “the forest from the trees” and the concept of flashlights and mirrors are just examples of things that ultimately can help you enhance your ability as a leader. Additionally, I am not expecting anyone to go out and physically buy a flashlight or mirror and immediately things will be “on the right track”. However, there is some power in the understanding of how both can help you navigate your way through the ‘trees’ as you map out the ‘forest’ for your team.

When you are looking at your leadership impact and ultimately your overall business culture, it is sometimes difficult to step back and look at things objectively. This is especially true when you are assessing something like your personal business that you have poured your blood, sweat, and tears into over the years to get you to your current success. Equally difficult is the first time you look in the ‘mirror’ or the ‘flashlight’ shines on something that you suddenly realize may have been impacting things for a long time. Once you come to the realization of identifying some opportunities to advance it then becomes difficult to try and figure out how to advance those things while still staying focused on the day-to-day and other ‘fires’ that may come your way.  Ultimately you then become consumed with even more ‘trees’ that you didn’t know existed, which makes the ‘forest’ seem even more daunting and confusing. So how do you navigate through all of this to ensure that your team and your organization are not feeling the same effects and impact you are while ensuring you are growing as a leader? There are many feasible answers, however I feel strongly that finding a trusted advisor or coach is key to sustainable growth and development as a business leader.  

As I continued to gain more responsibility and more team members throughout my career I often lost track of the overall bigger picture as I remained focused on the details. Focusing on the details is important, but as a leader you also must stay at a high level as you help your team navigate through the forest, which is your company, their day-to-day responsibilities, and ultimately their personal development. It was not until I joined a company out in New York City that I finally realized how important it was for a leader to have a trusted advisor or coach to help understand the entire ‘forest’.

This trusted advisor helped to shine the flashlight and hold up the mirror so that I could begin to see things a bit differently.  Additionally, they helped me to prioritize and delegate the details while empowering my employees to do the same. Without this advisor, I am certain that the overall success of my team and my career would not have been on the same trajectory. I’m sure I would still have been successful, but the journey and my development would have taken a lot longer with the possibility of never reaching the full potential I might have been capable of reaching. There is a possibility that I would still be wandering around the forest as I continued to be lost among the trees, thus causing my team to also be lost.

A leader/trusted advisor relationship can take on many different forms. Ultimately a trusted advisor should be someone you can trust that can help you see things from a different point of view. They should not be afraid to shine the flashlight, hold up the mirror and challenge you as an individual and leader. While it is helpful for this advisor to have some similar industry knowledge it is also beneficial to have someone with an outside perspective that may understand your ‘forest’ and your ‘trees’ from a different business perspective. Trusted advisors can be colleagues, consultants, other business owners or someone you can simply trust to provide you with a different perspective.

If you are interested in continuing to advance your leadership ability and impact through a trusted advisor/coaching approach, my recommendation would be to reach out to us at the Arborisk Thrive team just to have a conversation. Sure, we offer coaching and various services to help you advance as a leader and an organization, but this is 100% NOT an article written as a sales call or advertisement. Rather it is an article written to provide you with a different perspective on how you can continue to focus on your leadership development and ability to lead your team and organization. The conversation will be focused on your thoughts and the direction you would like to take as we help provide some insight and things to consider.

As a consultant I am in the business of positively impacting and supporting people, organizations, and teams on their journey of reaching their full potential. If having a conversation with you about the power of having a trusted advisor or coach is helpful in you pursuing your true purpose, impact, and goals then that is all I can ask. If that conversation identifies the opportunity for a more formal coaching / support relationship with a member of the Arborisk Thrive team then great. If not, then perhaps our conversation helped you to understand your ‘forest’ by identifying one of the ‘trees’ along your path of understanding and success.

If you are interested in having a conversation or learning more about our Thrive program please check out our web site at: https://arboriskinsurance.com/arborisks-thrive/

Employees in Other States

by | Oct 4, 2023 | Employee Management | 0 comments

Employees in Other States

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

There is an increasing trend within the tree care industry for tree services to either be working in other states or hiring remote employees that live in a different state than where they are headquartered. Many times this offers a greater revenue potential or the ability to get the talent on their team that they need to be successful. In fact, for ArboRisk it’s both. We now have employees that live and work in three different states as our insurance agency’s home office. That has allowed us to expand our brand and secure top tier employees that would not have been an option if we were only looking within our home state. 

But with that opportunity, comes some employee management challenges as every state operates slightly different from each other. There are many different issues you as the business owner must address to do this correctly, from payroll tax and unemployment accounts, sales tax, workers compensation, contractual law and other employment laws, the list of to do’s can get lengthy right off the bat. Your insurance agent, accountant, and attorney should be the first three calls you make to determine what you will need to take care of. 

For this article, I am going to focus on the insurance issues with out of state work or employees. 

The first thing you must do is assess how much time your employees will be spending in each state. Are you looking to have a full time remote employee or crew? Does the employee live in the other state and commute across state lines to work out of your shop? Or is there a new project that you want to take on? Perhaps it’s storm work where locations will be changing frequently? The specifics of your situation could drastically change the requirements of what you need to do. I’ve broken it down into two scenarios; Regular Work/Permanent Location or Temporary Work/Location to help you determine what to consider.

 

Regular Work/Permanent Location
If you are planning on having regular work or employees permanently stationed in another state it is a little easier to comply with. Let’s look at each coverage line to see what you should be concerned with. 

Workers’ Compensation – Because each state handles Work Comp and has different laws with different benefit schedules, you need to make sure to add the other state to your Work Comp policy and assign an estimated payroll for each applicable Work Comp class code. This also applies if you have an employee living in another state, even if they only work in your state. You want to make sure there is coverage for any state that the employee could file for benefits under. If you happen to open a location up in North Dakota, Ohio, Washington or Wyoming, you’ll have to buy a Work Comp policy from that particular state directly. 

General Liability – As long as you are working within the United States, Puerto Rico, US Territories and Canada, your General Liability will cover you. That said, you should report all new locations to your General Liability policy as some insurance companies are not licensed to do business in all states. This means they are not equipped to handle claims that pop up in those states and if they learn of regular operations happening in a state they are not licensed in, they will issue a non-renewal as soon as they can. Like we’ve discussed in many other business tips, it’s much better to build a relationship with your insurance company and be open about the states you are working in than to try to sneak it past them. 

Property & Inland Marine – Your Property policy only covers you at listed locations, so if you have a building or a leased location in another state, add that location to your insurance policy. Inland Marine coverage acts like the General Liability and covers your equipment wherever you go as long as you are in the coverage territory.  

Business Auto – If your vehicles are registered or garaged in a different state than your company’s headquarters, you’ll need to make sure your insurance company knows that as you may be subject to different motor vehicle laws in the other state and need to have different insurance coverages on your policy. 

 

Temporary Work/Location

Workers’ Compensation – Each state has its own definition of what constitutes temporary work. For some states, like New York, the moment your employees step into the state to work you are subject to the Work Comp laws of their state, while in other states, you are allowed up to 90 consecutive days before their laws become your company’s responsibility. Check with your insurance agent to understand the particular Work Comp laws for the state(s) you will be temporarily working in. 

General Liability – The insurance guideline for temporary work when it relates to General Liability coverage is the same as regular work. Check with your insurance company to make sure they are able to provide the best claims service if you were to have a General Liability claim in another state. Have as many details about the temporary work as possible to give the insurance company the full picture of what you will be doing in the other state and why you want or need to take on this project. Again, by building a relationship with your insurance company, you will benefit much more long term than you would from hiding information from them. 

Property & Inland Marine – If your temporary work involves a written or verbal lease agreement to rent a building, storage shed, parking lot, etc., you want to list that location on the property policy immediately. If your equipment is stored temporarily out of state, again, this is a time for a conversation with your insurance company to make sure there won’t be any trouble with a future renewal policy by being open with them. In your conversation with the insurance company, explain as much about the temporary work as possible. 

Business Auto – When thinking about the temporary out of state exposure for your business vehicles, think about where you are ultimately physically working and garaging the vehicles during the length of the project. All insurance companies understand and accept the fact that you may be driving through various states on your way to a job, so there will not be a limitation of coverage, however, it is important to remember that each state may have different laws for motor vehicle accidents so you could be unintentionally exposing your company to a larger lawsuit if there is an accident. 

 

As you can see, working in a different state other than your home state can cause some potentially large insurance issues for your tree care company. The best way to ensure your company is properly protected is to talk with your insurance agent and gain the approval of your insurance company before you accept work in another state. Creating an open dialogue between you and your insurance company on your operations is the first step in avoiding a costly and stressful non-renewal situation. 


If you have any questions about out of state work, please contact an ArboRisk team member today.

Better Benefits = Better Employees

by | Sep 29, 2023 | Employee Management | 0 comments

Better Benefits = Better Employees

Written by Eric Petersen, CIC

We often get asked about employee benefits and if there are any creative ways for tree care companies to offer benefits without breaking the bank. So for today’s business tip, I went straight to one of our referral partners, Jack Brees of RC Risk Advisors and had a great conversation that every tree care company should hear about!

Q: How do Voluntary Benefits help retain and recruit great employees? 

A: As a business owner in today’s retention and recruiting environment, having something that distinguishes you from the other employers can make it easier to recruit and retain employees.  If salary and job type are equal,  voluntary benefits are an area that separates your company from the rest and could make the choice that much easier for the job seeker. 

Q: What are the common Voluntary Benefit plans/programs that tree services purchase?

A: Voluntary benefits such as: Short Term Disability, Life Insurance, Accident plans, Hosptial Plans and Critical Illness plans help the employee navigate out of pocket expenses and are what is typically offered and accepted by tree service employees.  

Q: Do employees need to pay for Voluntary Benefits out of their own pocket?

A: Not any more! While being in the Voluntary business for the past 15 years, employees have typically paid for these benefits, however, RC Risk Advisors has built a partnership with a Wellness Company that implements a Wellness program that ultimately unlocks tax savings to the employee that are then earmarked for the purchase of voluntary benefits. As an added bonus, the business owner also will realize a sizable tax savings per employee annually.  

Q: Can you give an example of the estimated tax savings for a tree service with 9 employees? 

A: Take a business that has 9 employees, once this tax savings program is implemented the business will receive on average $150 a month in savings per employee to spend on voluntary benefits, ($1,800 a year). The business will also experience, on average, $500 of tax savings per employee annually. Add those numbers together and the total tax savings would be approximately $20,700 annually! In both cases, the employee and employer can choose to pay more taxes or use those monies to purchase voluntary benefits that could help their families with out-of-pocket expenses.  

If you have been thinking about bolstering your benefits or want to figure out a way to get creative with what you offer, please reach out to Jack and ask him about how voluntary benefits could fit in with your company!