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Tree service invoice for Research and Development

i had a subscriber ask of one of my previous videos how did i get licensed and insured to do tree work and i thought this was a great question that many people could benefit here in the answer to so today we're going to talk about that process now while yes i do have first-hand experience going through this process specific to a tree service business if you're watching this video and maybe you're thinking about starting a different service based contractor type business or maybe you've already started it and you're still trying to figure all the business side of things out stick around because what i'm going to talk about today might help you everything you need to know is coming up next so i'm going to talk about licensing first depending where you are there may or may not be a license required to actually do tree work so that is to say cutting and removing trees or trimming trees there may be a specific license required there may not be a specific license required and it could even go further where maybe you don't need a license to remove a tree but you need a special credential to do pruning i'm not like i said i can't really speak for other areas but i have heard that you may need a business license which is basically a certificate or a license if you will whatever you want to call it that gives you the ability to operate a legal business now where i am i had to apply for the business license through my town wait a period then i had to go in front of the board um you know the town officials they asked me some questions and then i got approved and i got my business certificate or business license now depending if you're going to get into additional types of services you may need to consider additional credentials or additional credentials may be required entirely depends on where you are on what you're doing for instance i know for certain types of spraying like pesticide applications etc you may need a special license um it really i guess it depends on what the laws are where you are so just to recap you may or may not need a license to do basic tree work so that is to say removal trimming you may need a business license and depending on if you get into additional services you may need additional credentials my recommendation would be to check at both a state and local level what licenses you may or may not need and the other thing to consider here is where are you going to be operating so you may not need a license to do tree work in one state but if you're going to go to another state the laws in that state may differ and you may need licensing there so what i would do is figure out where you're going to be operating you know where you're going to be doing business and check those areas um you know if it's going to be multiple states check both you know all those states and find out do you need certain licenses um you know because it could differ so you're gonna have to do your research and if you have contacts who are in business or you know you have anybody you can talk to you know that's a great thing find out as much information as you can so that you're getting yourself set up legally because that helps prevent you from running into issues down the road now let's talk about insurance so common types of insurance for a contractor service based business liability workman's comp commercial auto so liability obviously covers you if something happens if there's an accident so you think about tree work tree work is dangerous things can happen even when you're doing everything right so let's say you know something happens and somebody's property gets damaged your liability insurance is there to cover that so that you're not personally responsible it's absolutely essential that if you're going to do work on someone's property you have liability it should be your one of your first steps don't skip that step and start working and then get liability cover your ass next is workman's comp this is if you're going to have people working for you and the workman's comp laws could vary for each state so you've got to or for each area i should say depending you know where you are so you've got to find the workman's comp laws specific to where you're going to be operating your business and if you need workman's comp if you're going to have somebody working for you you best be sure that you have that in place before you have somebody on the job working for you yes people will do it people will have help on the job site without workman's comp but if anything happens you could get in a lot of trouble for not having workman's cop insurance and i've heard of contractors who have had people from you know workman's comp agencies show up on their job site wanting to verify their workman's comp and if you don't have it and you can't prove you have it they can shut you down and they can find you the workmen's comp is there you know in case anybody gets hurt so you absolutely need to have workman's comp if what you're doing falls within the parameters of when it would be required you know like i said it depends on what your workman's comp laws are and when it's required and i know it's a lot of information but the workman's comp class can go even further than that such as what is the definition of a subcontractor what is the definition of an employee and it isn't necessarily cut and dry for instance you may think that somebody's a subcontractor but they actually fit the definition of an employee because that's going to impact whether you need workman's comp for the people working for you do you need it for yourself i know where i am if you're a sole proprietor i believe you don't need workman's comp for yourself um but like i said you know i'm not gonna i'm not gonna assume to know everything about everywhere so there's more involved like i said you gotta do your research find the laws that are specific to where you are talk to your insurance agents and let them advise you and then of course you have commercial auto insurance i'm not going to really get into this um something to talk to your insurance agent about when you're setting up your policies for the vehicles that you're going to be using for your business not everybody has a fleet of big trucks you know some people are a one or two man operation using a pickup truck or you know whatever so really it kind of depends on what kind of business you're running so talk to your insurance agent to find out more about what would be the best policy for your particular situation but as far as the insurance is concerned um some resources for you know finding out what you need obviously again like the licenses checking at a state and local level um checking you know government websites pertaining to workman's comp liability business um the other thing is talking to an insurance agent you know if you have an insurance insurance agent already for say your vehicle you know tell them that you could tell them that hey you know i'm starting this business can you advise me as to what insurances i will need um and they usually should be able to give you [Music] a satisfactory answer and guide you as to what you're going to need what you don't need when you may need something um that's what i did you know for for me when i was picking up my insurances insurances and everything i just i happened i happen to have a family member who uh she owns an insurance agency and i just went there and you know told them what i was doing and they told me exactly what i needed to do if i ever have any questions you know like if i'm hiring somebody i just ask them they tell me what i need to do it doesn't hurt to get multiple opinions either so maybe you talk to one agent and then you try a different place talk to a couple more agents you know compare what each one is saying make sure that you're getting all the information you really need so you know do your due diligence a lot of things to consider i know but you know these things are all in place to protect you and taking shortcuts you know it's not going to do yourself any favors if you're going to form a company do it right right off the bat so that way you don't get into any trouble down the road insurance is required for a reason is there to protect you protect your clients so do it right i hope you guys found this video helpful and informative so if you have any questions for me related to running a service based business i'd love to hear them those of you who are new to the channel appreciate you subscribing i'll see you guys next time take care