Article provided in collaboration with Tree Wise Men.
For the first 15 years of his career, Jordy Hagen worked in Canada, Australia and the United States, for companies of varying size and structure. He witnessed what worked well and what did not.
Hagen now owns and operates Tree Wise Men in San Antonio, Texas, and has been serving the metro area for more than 10 years. Much of what has made Hagen’s tree care company successful has been his unique business philosophy — a philosophy that was shaped from his experience working all over the world.
“I was able to work my way up the ladder, starting out as a groundsman, all the way up through sales and management, but it just didn’t seem right,” says Hagen. “Safety and quality seemed to take a backseat within the tree care industry, that’s when I decided to go off on my own.”
From the start, Hagen made a pact with himself that if the tree service crew spends a little more time than expected on a job, it’s a small price to pay to ensure his employees are safe and customers are happy.
Hagen believes ongoing education and training of his employees is also crucial to maintaining their level of quality and safety. Having been involved with the Texas chapter of the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) for more than 10 years, he encourages all of his employees to follow suit.
“We strive to have all our employees become certified arborists,” says Hagen. “We also attend tree care industry conferences and hold regular internal trainings for our employees to learn new techniques. For instance, we recently spent the day practicing aerial rescues in a park. It was a lot of fun for them, and we all learned a lot.”
“Our company is like a family, and my employees and their families depend on me in order to bring home a good paycheck,” says Hagen.
“So, my goal in running our business is to keep the paychecks coming. “Under my philosophy, the best way to do that is to keep safety and quality at the highest possible levels. I believe we’re doing that by continuing to educate and train our employees on better ways of doing things and by investing in the best tree care equipment money can buy.”