Cortland was born in CA and started climbing trees at the age of 17 through his family owned business. He joined the army after attending Sac State and was deployed a year later. While in Iraq Cortland was a part of a 9 man QRF team. After his deployment he was looking for that same sort of camaraderie and could only find it within the tree industry. He is now running his own tree company and learning as much as he can about training.

Megan grew up a tomboy and learned about forestry in her vocational high school. After graduating from college with two degrees she got a job training telecom tower climbers rope access techniques. Next she joined Husqvarna and did product training with them for 3 years before going onto Wright Tree Service as a safety supervisor. She now owns her own training company - www.upward-training.com where she works with owners to be safer and more productive.

Patrick and Peter join our guest host David O’Neill to share stories and insight into rope rescue and the arborist community.

Dave White, CEO of TCIA, shares with us tips and tricks for succeeding in the tree business. He covers everything from fractional employees to effective networking and explains why it is important to avoid becoming too busy working IN the business rather than working ON the business.

Dustin joins Phil to share his experience at at TCIA Expo and talk a bit about Treepalooza in FL.

Austin came from a ski racing background and realized there was an opportunity to bring action sports safety technology to the construction industry. The helmets that they have developed are ANSI type 2 rated and are made with Koroyd which are superior from an impact perspective and breathability. They even have a helmet with a NFC chip which can store your medical profile or any other pertinent information.

Brandon got his start in the Texas oil fields and transitioned over to trees after seeing what his mom was charged for some tree work. He started his YouTube learning and never looked back. His son, Hunter, started working in trees right out of high school. He had tired a bit of construction before and decided tree work was more his thing. His first job was doing line clearance!

Justin was born in  Oxford, Ohio. He went to college for Homeland Security and Terrorism and participated in the National Guard for 6 years. Out of college he worked cyber security and IT but wasn’t feeling fulfilled and missed the outdoors. He had a neighbor with a White Pine that he needed taken down so Justin started learning about tree removals via YouTube. He continued working full time in cyber security while doing side tree work. He finally decided to get a truck and dump trailer and leave his full time job for the world of tree work.

Work Safety Territory Manager for Edelrid, Josiah Georgeson, joins us in the studio to share his story about leaving school for biomedical engineering and getting into tree work. He started as a groundsman and decided he’d “rather be the pitcher than the guy in the outfield” and got into climbing. He pushed through his fear of heights and continues to climb and pursue his passion for gear and training.

Todd and Jesse are hosting the second annual Rec The River event  July 11-14 on the New River in Ivanhoe, VA. They are combining their passions for river rafting and tree climbing into 4 days of learning unique skills, conversing with peers, floating the river and relaxation. Check it out on Facebook - Rec the River Group or https://www.treepeoplegear.com/rec-the-river.