Lexington, KY - Armed with a bachelor's degree of science in agronomy and a minor in biology from Morehead State University in 1977, David Lawyer entered the financial industry. Yeah, well, sometimes college studies and wage-earning jobs don't mesh.
But then - eventually - they do.
After working for a bank in Louisville, Lawyer bought a beef cattle and tobacco farm in Oldham County with his parents in 1980, where he worked the land and planted trees until he moved to Lexington 10 years ago.
"The townhouse association needed some tree work done," he said. "I had knowledge about trees, was protective of trees and wanted to do the work myself."
When he finished that particular job, another one came his way. Through word of mouth and referrals, he has been working almost every day since that first job. So many people referred to him as "the tree man," that he named his business The Tree Man, LLC.
In 2006, Lawyer became a certified arborist by the International Society of Arboriculture. ISA certification means he is required to do continuing education every year to maintain his professional status. Lawyer (and yes, he is married to an attorney) deals with the diagnosis and treatment of tree diseases, fertilization and pruning, the planting of large trees and technical removals.
"There have been times when equipment breaks down, or it's 100 degrees outside and I have sawdust all over me, I'm hungry, and I think, 'What in the world am I doing?'" he said. "But the next morning, I'm ready to go again."
Lawyer has also added landscape design to his repertoire. He and his clients want high-quality species that are sometimes readily available and other times not. Lawyer began to acquire and grow his own trees and shrubs at his nursery in northern Fayette County to have the available inventory he needs, including yellowwood, ginkgo and black gum trees (a new hybrid dogwood resistant to mildew). He makes his own compost from the woodchips left over from his tree jobs, making his business slightly sustainable.
"I love to recycle," he said, "taking waste products and turning them into something useful."
He has seen giant oak trees planted underneath power lines or too close to a house, which is not good for trees or homeowners.
"In my work as an arborist, I see a lot of human error in site selection, type of soil, soil moisture, sunlight, proximity to power lines and buildings," he said.
As a consultant, he can recommend appropriate plantings based primarily on the soil at a specific site. As a practitioner, he and his three employees can clean up kudzu and undesirable species, replant a woodland area, move and replant giant trees and provide general health care for trees.
Two ice storms in the last few years hasn't hurt his tree business.
"I don't like them, but they definitely provide an immediate demand," he said.
Lawyer gets more requests than he would like for topping trees. "I turn those jobs down," he said.
Indiscriminately cutting off branches, or topping, is damaging to trees. "It's one of the worst things you can do to a tree," he said.
Working for clients who care about their trees as much as he does is a gratifying experience.
"I'm happier than I've ever been in my life, doing something I love," he said.
He would be a strong advocate for the city maintaining street trees throughout Fayette County, but it is a project that would have to be funded somehow.
"Trees add so much value to our quality of life," said Lawyer. "They abate air pollution and help with runoff. They just make our human environment so much more desirable."
But while harboring a natural love for trees, Lawyer has shown he's still ready to go out on a limb, if the venture feels right. Last September, Lawyer read an article in The New York Times about an all-natural pizza venture in New Orleans.
"I had that gut twinge that stimulated me so much I jumped off the couch, got on the computer, e-mailed the founder and began a dialog that Sunday," he said.
Lawyer soon closed a deal as one of the first franchisees for NakedPizza, for the area development of Louisville, Lexington and northern Kentucky. Lawyer's brother, Larry, a chef by trade, is his partner in this entrepreneurial undertaking called NakedPizza Kentucky.
"Larry is the operations guy, and I'm the business guy, dealing with site location and acquisition," he said. "We make a really good team. We don't overlap much at all in our areas of expertise."
Look for their first NakedPizza carryout and delivery store to open in Jefferson County this summer and a Lexington location next year. He hopes to have 10 stores within the next five years.
Lawyer has no plans to retire as The Tree Man anytime soon, though.
"I value that relationship with the client who trusts me as we work together to solve a problem," he said. "I really like that part of it."
Kathie Stamps is the co-founder of www.ISBO.biz, an online directory of independent/small business owners.