It all started with a truck. I bought a used red and white 1992 Ford F150 off some old man that lived down the street from me. He cut me a good deal because he wasn’t able to get in and out of it anymore. It wasn’t the best looking girl at the party – had dings all over it, some rust spots and a bent bumper – but it got the job done. What really sold me on it was the big bed. From lawnmowers to rakes, the back of this truck held pretty much everything I needed. That was until my business started to take off.

Word started getting around that I did a good job so my I started getting a lot more business. The problem now was that I needed to expand. That’s one thing my grandpa always told me. “You gotta keep growing. If you don’t, you’re dead in the water." So I took pops advice and hired a partner. He didn’t have a truck but he was ready to work hard and owned lot of equipment. That huge f150 bed didn’t seem so big anymore. What was once an empty metal storage area suddenly seemed a lot smaller.

We knew we had to do something about our overflowing tools so we invested in a ladder rack, which worked out great. It could hold all of our ladders, long tree saws and any other oversized equipment we needed. We also invested in a nice set of Husky floor liners. After spending 4 hours outside cutting branches, trimming hedges, and edging lawns we’re covered in grass, leaves, dirt and sweat. Even though we expect our truck to get dirty, nothing’s worse then having to spend everyday driving around in your own filth. Our interior was disgusting; constantly get caked with mud and grass. With the new floor mats, we could just pull out the mess, hose them down and be good to go.

A few years have passed since those days of driving around in a beat up f150. We ended up buying two new trucks. We each have a 2007 F250 with trailers for our gear. We have also hired more workers to accommodate all the business we get. Our crew now consists of 10 workers and we have expanded our services to include snow plowing during the winter months.

But guess what? We still have our ladder racks on the back and sturdy floor mats in the cab. Even though we keep expanding, we will always use these “bread and butter" items. You’ll be surprised how helpful these items can be. Like this one time, Jerry sliced his hand wide open on one of the chain saws. Blood was pouring out of him like the Colorado River rapids. I quickly wrapped a towel around his hand, shoved him in the truck, and sped to the hospital. When we finally got there, the floor in front of him was covered in blood. Luckily, most of the liquid was contained in the floor liner. I was able to dump the blood out of my truck without staining the interior and you can barely see it now. These staples have saved our butts many times, just thought I’d let you guys know.