Grow yourself
2023 represents 40 years in aboriculture for me and 30 years ago as of January 1, 2023, Tree Awareness, Inc. has hit the 30 years in business benchmark. I can vividly remember starting out, being the new kid on the block, trying to carve out a place for myself in the local arborist community. I had no kids at the time and was not married. If you are an adult reading this, I do not need to explain to you how fast time goes by and that it picks up pace with age. At the time of my company’s inception, a good number of our peers and worthy rivals in the local market were not even born yet! A sobering thought.
As of this post, I have now been married 26 years, have 3 grown children and my oldest is married. So much has changed for me personally as well as in the industry that I love. In some ways, it is hard to recognize. I could author a lengthy post on all of the things that have changed, mostly for the good, but I will save that for another day. There are some things through it all that have not changed. Things that have remained constant: a passion for serving people, a strong desire to be outdoors, creating valid solutions for people about their trees and landscapes, and the motivation to learn. That last one is what I will be unpacking here.
I am returning afresh from yet another Arbor Expo. There are more opportunities now than ever to learn, grow, and take in new information .The point of this is to get you thinking about what drives you in life. As a person who receives learning and teaches, who has a mentor and mentors, who gets trained and trains, I want to encourage you, the reader, with a few thoughts.
First, you, alone, are the greatest driving force for your advancement in any arena of your life. Drive, determination, and grit are what propel us forward. Do not wait for someone else to lead you or push you. Leadership starts with us, so we must lead ourselves first. Whatever field you are in, you can always learn something new. Continuing education will keep you up to date with changes in your industry.
I believe two huge benefits come from attending trade shows and seminars: networking and reinvigoration. The secret sauce to attending events is the ability to connect with people in your own industry. Oftentimes, at larger events, the vast majority of attendees are not competitors. They most often are facing similar if not the same issues. If we sow into these relationships, we wind up developing friendships with people that are willing to be on our side. Friends that are willing to come alongside and help us solve problems when the need arises. Some of my dearest friends are folks that I’ve met over the course of 30 years of attending these types of events. Remember, this should be a two way street and we should be willing to be there for them as well.
The second benefit is what I like to call, a bounce. Every time I step away from the day to day operations for a short time, I come back with a shifted perspective. There is usually a new bit of information, a new strategy or some new gear that comes home as well. Any one of these new things tends to get a person excited to return to the fold and implement. The combination of a detached perspective and bringing back something new is quite enough to give us a little renewed vigor, a spring in our step. Both we and our teams benefit.
If you are feeling stale or stuck in your business or your job, attend a trade show or networking event for continuing education. These events will connect you with people of like mind who can help elevate your game. This pattern can well be a tonic for what ales us . It can serve as a catalyst for bumping us out of our rut.
