Hector Martinez came to metro Detroit with little more than a dream for a better life and some loose connections to the area. 20 years later, he's built his own a business and created jobs in Pontiac.
Trees&Co has established itself as a staple in the local tree-trimming market. It added two people over the last year, expanding its staff to five full-time employees and another four part-timers, and is looking to hire even more, for jobs ranging from arborists to climbers to groundsmen to sales reps.
"We have been building up our system and our equipment," Martinez says. "Now I feel like we are there. We have the customer lists and the equipment. Now we just need the people."
Twenty years ago Martinez wanted to be one of those people, a guy on someone's team working for an honest day's wage. In 1996, he moved from Puerto Rico to the mainland in hopes of finding a better life, and choose Pontiac because an acquaintance lived there and could make room for him.
Martinez worked at a Taco Bell for a few months until a friend complained about being quoted an arm and a leg to have a tree removed near his house. Martinez offered to give it a try for $100.
"I was able to cut the whole thing down without hitting his house," Martinez says. "He said you should do this for a living."
That was the start of Trees&Co. Martinez wasn't afraid of heights and liked working outside. He bought a chainsaw and started building up a customer base. Word of mouth made slow-but-steady growth possible over the years, allowing Martinez to turn the weekend side job into his full-time gig. Then he started hiring people. Today Trees&Co does $500,000 in gross revenue.
"I want to provide more work for more people," Martinez says. "We have the potential to make $2 to $3 million and provide more jobs in the community."
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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