An Event that Changed My Career in Forestry
There have been a lot of events in my life that would be considered “life changing” like getting to know God, meeting my wife, teachers that influenced me, and much more.
But to save you all from having to read a book I will contain today's essay to one career changer in my life.
After leaving the USDA Forest Service in the mid 80’s I headed back to the Midwest and took a position in Michigan where I was in charge of buying timber in the Southeastern quarter of the state.
At first it seemed like a great job, lots of freedom to work long hours, making my own schedule and doing my thing as long as I brought in lots of trees for a very low price. And the paycheck was pretty sweet compared to what I had been making for the Forest Service.
During my first month here I was placed under the tutelage of the senior forester and timber buyer who proceeded to show me ways to prospect for potential trees to buy and how to buy them for a very low price.
We also had monthly buyer meetings near Lansing with the 4 foresters who worked for the company.
These meetings were mainly bragging sessions where the crew discussed what they bought in the past month and told stories about some of the sneaky practices that they used to buy this timber. And generally plenty of other stories were told about past antics used to buy large quantities of great timber for far less than it was worth.
It did not take long to realize that if I was to be a super achiever at this position like I was at my previous job, I would need to learn to be a thief, or at least a bottom feeder. (Not all companies like this are necessarily dishonest, but this one was.)
Being an honest person who would not accept anything but high achievement, I knew that I needed to leave here soon, but not too soon as I did not want to have a resume with only a few months at any position this close to the beginning of my career.
So I set a date of mid-December as my departure time, and started using all of my spare time to plan the transition and my new career.
There was another industry out there that was in the business of helping landowners to get a fair shake with people like the folks I was working for, they were called Consulting Foresters, and my boss hated these folks.
We had instructions to never buy from them unless we were desperate to make our quota for the month. A few times I considered bidding on these sales, but everyone that I looked at went for over 400% more than I was authorized to spend.
Well this cemented my decision as to what I was going to do when I left this company, I was going to become a Consultant and help out the little guys who are not aware of the tricks of the trade.
I could have went to work for a consultant but instead chose to start my own business, since my background as a farm boy kept me always feeling a little restricted by the life of an employee.
26 years later, I have no idea of how many people we have helped or how many millions we have made for them but I am happy to know that I spent my career learning to be the best at doing the Right Thing rather than what I was expected to learn at my previous job.
It is also satisfying to know that one of my sons is now carrying on this business of helping people and their forests into the next generation.
http://activerain.com/blogsview/4333308/loggers-love-diy-forest-landowners
