trees in park

Asking a Arborist in Victoria BC What We All Want to Know: 2026 Interview

by editor

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dave, a certified arborist working in the Victoria, British Columbia area, very briefly in a coffee shop after we bumped into each other. I could tell he was an arborist because of his work van outside, and he agreed to the 10 minute interview after I told him that many people around Canada are curious to know what it’s like being an arborist in a part of the world where there are so many gorgeous trees (Victoria really has way more trees than much of Canada).

My first question went straight to business: “On my blog I advocate for learning from professionals. I don’t want to listen to a banker about baseball or a badger about baboons (I say this a lot in my private DMs). I want to hear about baseball from baseball players not fans. With that spirit in mind, what can you tell us about being an arborist in Victoria BC that other arborists across Canada might not know.”

(To see the referenced article where I advocate for learning from professionals, visit here.)

Dave the arborist gave his response: “Garry oaks, which are native to BC, grow better in urban areas when you let the leaves stay on the ground but locals here never listen to me or tolerate that. I learned a trick to make them listen though. Letting your leaves stay on the ground saves you money and time! Works like a charm.” *he chuckles*

My next question was much more specific: “In 2024, Victoria BC was even labeled “the most sustainable destination in North America” by the the GDSI. “I paused to show Dave the Times Colonist article on my phone, and continued, “You’ve obviously met a lot of local residents who need tree work done, so what are your insights into why Victoria remains so green and conscious of sustainability?”

Sipping his coffee, looking at trees through the window that he very well might’ve trimmed that morning for all I knew, he said, “I think many Victoria locals have a sense of pride that almost comes inherently with living in such a beautiful place. When you have spectacular nature around you everywhere you look” – he pointed at the trees by his van through the coffee shop window – “you get filled with a sense of duty to take care of it, and pride comes with following that calling.”

“Great answer!” I said. “One more question before you go, Dave. This is a personal question for me. I never really understood the full definition of what an arborist is. I think an arborist who has worked in a place with so many trees would have a unique description of what you do every day. Also is there any real difference between an arborist and a tree trimmer or someone who does simple tree maintenance like cutting and pruning?”

Really, I wasn’t lying when I asked this question. When I just want some bushes trimmed and my trees pruned in the front yard, I think of tree service Victoria BC, but when I also want to get my trees assessed for fungus or rot I think specifically of an “arborist”. These two things usually lead me to calling the same company, but I never understood that difference I’d made out in my mind and where it came from, as there are many companies that label themselves as “Tree Service Companies” but they also don’t mention anything about being “Arborists” in their marketing material. You can see how this confused me, but Dave did a great job clearing up that confusion.

Dave spoke quickly, rising toward the door with his half-full coffee: “What a question to finish with. Um (it was a long ummmmm), where should I start?”

“I don’t know.” We laughed together.

“Well the only real difference between an arborist and any worker that maintains trees is that an arborist typically has higher training and some form of certification to prove it. That’s how you know you an trust them to assess your trees accurately. But you can higher any laborer on Used Victoria or Facebook Marketplace and they’ll cut your trees no problem even if they haven’t gone to Vancouver Island University to get their ISA certificate. I got mine years ago.”

“Wow,” I said. “So it wasn’t a coincidence that I thought arborists were just more specialized in treating tree health problems. That makes perfect sense! They are just literally certified, but a tree service worker who does the labor of cutting and tree removal doesn’t have to be certified.”

“That’s right, and I’ll leave you with one more thing you may not know. You don’t need to hire an arborist to get your simple trimming and pruning done. Landscapers who aren’t often certified arborists can do a lot of the same work for cheaper, because they’re usually cutting grass but have the ladders and tools to prune trees as well, depending on the nature of the work of course. They won’t be able to trim super tall ones, more so hedges and shorter fruit trees. I recommend this to customers who call me price hunting.”

I thought that extra bit of information was really helpful and will have to remember that to save money on my own property. Now, you, dear reader, before you go I want to tell you that I go to this same coffee shop several times a week, so if you have more questions you want to ask Dave let me know because I might see him again. Thanks, Dave!

Canadian business interview oppurtunity

Better Business for All of Canada

by editor

Today we have something special to announce. The staff at TLI Colombia would like to henceforth begin our surveys and adaptions into more markets than previously before. We’ve been thinking about this for a while and although British Columbia will always remain our founding location and main base of operation we do not regret our desire to expand into new and broader fields. That’s why now in the second half of 2022 we will be interviewing successful business owners all across Canada.

If you’re a Canadian business owner and are reading this now and want to be featured here, we would be happy to meet in person or interview you over email if you’re far.

Get in contact here.

Thanks for your participation!

car paint

What I Learned Visiting a Car Paint Shop in Hamilton Ontario

by editor

If you’re not really into cars, racing, engines and that kind of stuff, you may not find it very interesting visiting the interior of a car paint shop, especially one in Hamilton, ON, of all places. That’s what I thought I’d be, bored out of my mind while I waited for my friend’s car to get a new paint job. But, I was wrong! In fact, I had so much fun, became so curious and learned so much while spending two hours in a car paint shop that I wanted to write this experience down and share it with you all.

Maybe during another time of year, this time at a car paint shop may have not been so interesting. But since it was springtime things we’re rather bustling and unique. Like I mentioned, I was there because my friend was getting their car painted. One of the first things I did while waiting was walk up to an elderly lady who was also waiting for her car to get painted. I ask her, “So why are you getting your car painted.”

She replied, “Because it’s spring and I want my car looking fresh like the blooming flowers.”

I thought this was fascinating, and more so when I asked another person why they were getting their car painted and they said the same thing. It lead me to wonder if the human psyche has some kind of biological reaction to springtime. Maybe we developed the habit of spring cleaning and refreshing our home and possessions this time of year because of some ancient instinct our animalistic forefathers bore. Anyway, I won’t get too far off track there.

So, basically, what did I learn visiting the car paint shop Hamilton kindly provided to us? Well, what I learned actually had nothing to do with painting cars at all. What I learned had more to do with human nature. You see, I may not be able to prove that it’s an instinct scientifically, but there’s something about springtime that gets people cleaning and fixing things. Maybe its the excitement of winter ending or preparing for summertime festivity. Either way, it’s real and we can’t deny it. So what I learned visiting that quaint car paint shop was that humans are habitual creatures indeed, and sometimes we ourselves can’t even fully explain why it is we do the things we do.

3 other things I learned:

  1. Hamilton is not as boring of a city as I expected.
  2. Painting a car doesn’t take as long as I thought. (The car paint shop we went to is called Tip Top Auto Body at 350 Sherman Ave N and they did a fantastic job, in case you were wondering)
  3. Despite people’s inclination to get their car painted in spring, I’m stunned as to why people wouldn’t choose brighter springtime colors instead of dark greens, silvers and reds.

I hope you learned something too from this experience. Thanks for reading and make sure to visit our blog at TLI Colombia for more interesting articles.

cactus metaphor

What Every Small Business Needs! (and what makes a cactus special)

by editor

The cactus plant – you know, your average cactus you might find in a desert photo like the one above – may not be very impressive compared to other plants. An apple tree bears many fruits, for example. What’s so special about a cactus?

What makes a cactus special is the environment around it. In a complete desert, the cactus is a miraculous oasis nurturing anyone who passes by.

I bring this little story about cacti to your attention because it wraps up nicely with my main point, which is that every small business is just a desert if it doesn’t have that one thing that every small business needs and what every professional does.

Someone passing through the desert would die of thirst if not for the cactus he finds full of water along the way. So, what does every small business need?

Every small business needs work being done. Of course there are the thousands of nuances to also consider like having good ideas and marketing, but it’s really simple! Sure, every business could use other things, but what every business absolutely needs is work constantly getting done. From a business owned by one young woman who works on it when she can, to a business operated by hundreds of people out of skyscrapers, it’s all the same. They really need to make sure work is getting done, even if they could be working more efficiently some other way that’s no excuse to not work.

I like to remember this when I sometimes have those doubtful thoughts that my own business needs help. All businesses need help! And all I need to do is keep working.

Depending on the case, it could be a few hours of work a day or hundreds of hours a month, thoughtful innovation or mindless button-mashing, but work needs to get done!

It’s never too late to innovate

by editor

If you’re sick of working full time for little pay and dream of creating your own business, now in 2021, and I believe 2022 and future years will keep getting better, has never been a better time to innovate in the business world. With services like Amazon and Shopify, WordPress and Instagram at your disposal for you to take advantage of, you’ll find that there are so many business models that haven’t even been invented yet.

Instead of going the conventional route, expecting how you’ll compete with other plumbers when there are already a hundred plumbers in your area, you can take advantage of the most recent technology and invent new businesses that have never been invented yet. What those businesses are, I could never possibly tell you because you have yet to invent them.

Take inspiration from the past, but think for the future. Ten years ago we all used to use phone books. Someone had to invent whatever we use now to replace phone books. You might just want to sit in a chair and think for several hours. Think positive, think thoughts that have never been thought before, get inspired by good music and good food, and just think…

Because it’s never too late to innovate in the business world!

creativity in business

Creativity in Business Innovation

by editor

Can innovation exist without creativity? Before we get into a philosophical debate, arguing over whether or not human agency really exists or if everything is predetermined, let’s get down to business. Shall we? In the strictest of terms, innovation is the novelty of evolution. Innovation in business relies on creativity, I argue, unless it isn’t pure luck that a scientist stumbles upon a new chemical without creating it. But how a newly discovered chemical changes civilization is up to the creativity of the scientist.

So, if business innovation relies on creativity, does this mean that by honing your creativity you can increase innovation in business? Assuming innovation is a good thing for your business, becoming more creative, or thinking outside of the box as others say, gives a rising chance for innovation in any sector.

For instance, a fighter in mixed martial arts who has studied unchanging techniques over a period of thirty years can suddenly get creative and break away from tradition. It’s never too late to invent new fighting styles and new ways to subdue and grapple your opponent. With that said, starting to learn how to fight by educating yourself on the founding principles of your style or school makes it easier to then break away from tradition and begin to innovate effectively. Because, of course, innovation may be a downgrade or not very desirable at all. That’s why it’s also best to leave innovation up to the experts who know what’s best, and where creativity is actually useful and not destructive.

In a business setting, letting the wrong people get too creative can be disastrous, whether the business is long-established or up and coming. This often happens when young people inherit their parents business and break away from tradition. In these cases, creativity is not always good and instead of innovating it’s sometimes best to pay respect to methods that have already proven to work. Conserving tradition is important, but innovation, too, like switching to electric cars, for example, can bring amazing benefits to the planet as a whole.

All of this is why I’m of the opinion that in any business their must be a balance of creativity and tradition. Too much of one or the other can lead to unwanted results in earnings reports. Young people may put security at risk by putting too much faith in change, while old people can put a damper on growth by refusing the young their freedom to make change. So, like in all things perhaps, maintaining a balance is important.

Thanks for exploring these ideas with me.

The Importance of Learning Business Skills From Professionals

by editor

As humans, especially humans in business, we must be wary of where we take our advice from. It’s easy to listen to all the loud voices out there who are ready to offer business tips, but should we really listen to them? Business skills come from experience as well as from lessons taught by teachers, but in my experience growth comes must faster if we first grasp the lessons that business experts have to offer.

Here I will be explaining why it’s important to get your business advice from experienced professionals rather than friends, family or elsewhere. Your brother might be wont to tell you why you should make changes to your business, but should you listen to him if he has no real business credentials to back his words up?

Students go to business school because they know their teacher is a credible source for information, and at school you have access to business textbooks and other materials that are hard to find elsewhere. But this is all beside the point. Perhaps the best reason why you should never take business advice from rookies is because it might lead to further failure for your business, whereas taking tips from experienced experts has a way higher chance of improving your success. And learning from professionals is most important in the realm of business compared to other fields, because we’re talking about more than just success here. We’re talking about the fulfilment of dreams, the real-world usefulness of products, and services rendered to others for the good of all humanity. If you take the wrong advice, you run the risk of reducing the quality of your services and products which spoils the whole point of starting a business in the first place.

There’s a lesson to illustrate the importance of choosing who you listen to carefully that I’ll share now to drill this final point in deeper. In competitive industries like appliance repair, businesses are prone to imitate each other in ways which lead to more success. For example, one Victoria appliance repair business, when it began to offer warranties on their services, increasing their success and customer return rate, other companies in the area began to do the same thing because it was proven to work. This means that learning business skills from professionals doesn’t always come in the form of listening to a teacher but observing your competition. By observing the competition in your field that has had the most success, you can learn what they’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

A major part of being observational is paying attention to your competition and logically comparing your business to theirs. Keep rapport with your competition, befriend them, ask them questions and maybe they’ll be willing to share what worked for them.

At the end of the day, not every business deserves to succeed. It’s the ones that learn and adapt that continue to grow, while others who fail to adapt are left behind. Us here TLI Colombia hope this information helps, and we wish you the best.

What Did You Eat For Dinner?

by editor

About 40 times a week, someone will ask me what I ate for dinner. I’ll tell them, because over 10 percent of the people asking are the same person, that I ate non of your business. But, because I think it’ll be hilarious, if any one asks me what I ate for dinner again, I’ll spam the link to this article to them and say, here, read for yourself!

  1. Sundays: Beer and candy.
  2. Mondays: I usually eat beans and bananas, with a bit of yogurt and creamy pudding from my wife.
  3. Tuesdays: Chicken and rice.
  4. Wednesday: Whatever I feel like, but usually beans and bananas.
  5. Thursday: Chicken and rice, with a dap of creamy pudding from my wife if she lets me.
  6. Fridays: Chicken without the rice because I’m BBQing with the boys.
  7. Saturdays: A small snack before bed sometimes.
from the ground up

Starting from the Ground Up

by editor

Starting a business from the grassroots anywhere in the world, not just in BC, is a fool’s errand, unless, of course, you take advice from the masters before starting. We like to look at this process as climbing a mountain from the ground up. No one asked us to climb this mountain, but here we are. And we hope all our struggle will be worth it. Indeed, after a decade of lifting a business off its knees, we look back an awe at what out own hands are capable of.

Come with TLI Columbia on our journey from the ground up to make better business for British Columbia. We’ll discuss the many intricate aspects of being a business owner and starting a business in British Columbia. Although we’re not a resource for business loans and consultation, we are a blog with aspirations to help as many people as we can with what we do.

We look forward to raising the economy of BC together.