Tree Surgeon's Podcast with Henri Ghijben

Henri Ghijben
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  • Education
  • Biweekly

Welcome to The Tree Surgeon's Podcast, your go-to resource for everything related to the tree surgery business! Join us as we delve into the world of arboriculture, sharing expert insights, success stories, and practical advice to help you grow your tree surgery business. Tune in to learn from industry leaders, stay updated on the latest trends, and take your business to new heights!

  1. 2d ago

    S2 | EP8 How to Keep Clients Coming Back: Premium Service

    You can spend thousands on ads trying to get people to find you. Or you can build a business where your clients keep coming back. At HRG I'd say 80 to 90% of our clients are repeat custom, and it comes down to service. This episode is about the simple things that keep it that way: answering the phone (and what to do if you can't afford an office manager), asking great questions, and why being booked up for six months loses you work. I also talk about first impressions, the "all right love" phone call that horrified me, and why you can't charge premium rates without a premium service. If you only do one thing after listening, think about how you can serve your clients better. If you enjoyed it, please like, subscribe and share it with another tree surgery business owner.

    S2 | EP8 How to Keep Clients Coming Back: Premium Service

  2. Oct 20

    S2 | EP7 AI for Tree Surgeons: Save Time, Make More Profit

    There's a lot of negativity about AI at the moment. I think it's one of the biggest tools we've had as business owners in a very long time, and I use it every day at HRG Tree Surgeons. In this episode I cover how we use AI to save time and serve clients better without adding more managers. I explain why I think tree surgery is almost AI-proof, why a £20 a month paid plan is worth it, and how we built a Claude customer service agent with guardrails. I also cover why everything still gets checked by a human, and how Claude now builds the weekly KPI dashboard my office manager used to make by hand. Want the free short training on what an LLM is, or a place on our one-day AI course in January near Winchester and Southampton? Message me or comment "AI" on the YouTube video. If you enjoyed it, please like, subscribe and share it with another tree surgery business owner.

    S2 | EP7 AI for Tree Surgeons: Save Time, Make More Profit

  3. Aug 4

    S2 | E6Arborists Don't Grow on Trees — Nick Pott on Why You Can't Find Staff

    Nick Pott has spent thirty years watching tree surgery firms fail to hire, from both sides of the problem. He ran his own company through the late nineties, back when finding a climber meant £700 in trade magazine adverts and blokes turning up to interview with spikes on. Then he built Arbjobs, the first industry-specific job board in arboriculture. Ask a room of tree surgery business owners what's holding them back and seven or eight out of ten say finding staff. This episode is about why, and how much of it we do to ourselves. Nick spent a full day with the Tree Surgeons Mastermind before we recorded, going through members' real job adverts and explaining why they weren't working. A lot of that came into the conversation. We cover why the person you want already has a job and isn't looking, why keeping a bad apple costs you three or four people instead of one, what six years of salary data says about where wages have really gone, why the best team leader on a site is usually the one on the deck, and why there are only around two hundred arborists within twenty miles of wherever you're standing. Find Nick at https://www.arbjobs.com, including a free recruitment guide for employers built on thirty years of hiring. 🎓 3-Day Business Transformation Course → https://tsbauk.co.uk/3-day-course-page 🤝 Tree Surgeons Mastermind (100+ members) → https://tsbauk.co.uk/mastermind-join 🌳 HRG Tree Surgeons, get a quote → https://www.hrgtreesurgeons.co.uk/

  4. Jul 23

    S2 | EP5 Company Culture Is Your Only Real Competitive Advantage

    In this episode, Henri breaks down why he believes company culture is the single biggest competitive advantage any tree care business can have, bigger than kit, pricing, or marketing. Drawing on 18 years of running HRG, Henri walks through the mistakes he made early on (including employing friends), the two-year stretch where staff morale scores collapsed from over 80% to under 30%, and what it actually took to rebuild trust with his team. He also shares how HRG's stand-down days and quarterly staff surveys work in practice, and makes the case for why the old "hard boss" style of management is losing ground to a more human approach. Want monthly accountability, systems and direct support from me? Join 40+ tree surgery business owners inside the Tree Surgeons Mastermind. tsbauk.co.uk/mastermind-join Want to sort your sales, marketing, operations, finances and mindset in 3 days? My Business Transformation Course covers all of it.S2E5 tsbauk.co.uk/3-day-course-page

  5. Jun 30

    S2 | EP4 Mastermind Members Q&A

    This week I did something different. No guest, just me answering nine questions sent in by our mastermind group, the real questions tree surgery business owners have been quietly sitting on. Kit, cash flow, scale, profit, imposter syndrome, even whether my own addictive personality has actually helped the business. Nine honest answers, no script, no guest to hide behind. In this episode: Tom: the one thing Henri wishes he'd known starting out. Davy: imposter syndrome on bigger or more complex jobs. Alistair: buying kit, hiring kit, and the £10/£100/£1,000 task exercise. Chris: where the profit should actually go. Mark: when scale stops being the driving force. Alfie: managing cash flow on bigger contracts. Ben Harding: the moment things started clicking, and finding his "whos." Isaac: addictive personality as a business asset.   Want monthly accountability, systems and direct support from me? Join 40+ tree surgery business owners inside the Tree Surgeons Mastermind. tsbauk.co.uk/mastermind-join Want to sort your sales, marketing, operations, finances and mindset in 3 days? My Business Transformation Course covers all of it. tsbauk.co.uk/3-day-course-page

  6. Jun 16

    S2 EP3: Building a Business, Losing It All and What Comes Next | Lee Morris

    Lee Morris built Morris Arb from scratch after the 2008 financial crisis, scaled it to 24 direct staff and had £2.5 million of rail work on the pipeline heading into 2025. Most of it never materialised. I sat down with Lee after a full mastermind day where he came in as guest mentor to share his story. We go through the whole journey: how the business grew, the toxic debt that started stacking during COVID, the machinery that sat collecting dust, the safety stand downs that bled the cash position dry, and the decision fatigue that makes it almost impossible to make the right calls when you're running on empty. Lee now works with Geo Access on the principal contractor side, bringing everything he learned as a supplier into that role. His biggest takeaway, and mine too, is straightforward: bank your cash and protect it. New episodes fortnightly covering the real day to day of running a seven-figure arb firm. 🎓 3-Day Business Transformation Course, 14–16 July 2026 → https://tsbauk.co.uk/3-day-course-page 🤝 Tree Surgeons Mastermind, 100+ members → https://tsbauk.co.uk/mastermind-join 🌳 HRG Tree Surgeons → https://www.hrgtreesurgeons.co.uk/

    S2 EP3: Building a Business, Losing It All and What Comes Next | Lee Morris

  7. Jun 9

    S2 EP2: 5am Starts, Six Teams and How I Actually Run HRG Tree Surgeons

    Five to six teams. Twenty staff. Based between Winchester and Southampton. This episode is a look inside how HRG Tree Surgeons actually runs day to day, and what my life looks like directing it. I cover my morning routine, why I started taking it seriously a few years ago and what changed when I did. I also walk through the management team, Mike who has been with me sixteen years, Sonia in the office and my wife handling the finances, and why each of those roles is worth more than most business owners realise until they are drowning without them. If your business still runs through you for everything, this one is worth a listen. New episodes fortnightly covering the real day to day of running a seven figure arb firm. 🎓 Ready to work on your business, not just in it? 3-Day Business Transformation Course, 14–16 July 2026. 👉 https://tsbauk.co.uk/3-day-course-page 🤝 Monthly accountability, proven systems and direct support from Henri. Join the Tree Surgeons Mastermind, 100+ members. 👉 https://tsbauk.co.uk/mastermind-join 🌳 Need tree surgery in Hampshire or surrounding areas? HRG Tree Surgeons, get a quote. 👉 https://www.hrgtreesurgeons.co.uk/

    S2 EP2: 5am Starts, Six Teams and How I Actually Run HRG Tree Surgeons

  8. May 26

    S2 | EP1 Henri Ghijben's Story: No GCSEs, a Business That Failed & £1.6M Turnover | The Relaunch

    Tree Surgeon's Podcast with Henri Ghijben

    S2 | EP1 Henri Ghijben's Story: No GCSEs, a Business That Failed & £1.6M Turnover | The Relaunch
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About

Welcome to The Tree Surgeon's Podcast, your go-to resource for everything related to the tree surgery business! Join us as we delve into the world of arboriculture, sharing expert insights, success stories, and practical advice to help you grow your tree surgery business. Tune in to learn from industry leaders, stay updated on the latest trends, and take your business to new heights!

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