More than
a job.

My husband and business partner, Peter, and I began building Seattle Tree Care to support our growing family. We were raising our kids while growing the company, and the business paid for the life we were building together. For a long time, I measured its success largely by whether we could pay our bills, support our employees, and bring enough home for our family.

Around 2018, I began to understand another dimension of what we were building. The company had value beyond the income it provided each year. Our client relationships, our team, our reputation, and the way we operated could contribute to a business with lasting worth. The decisions we made could intentionally increase that value over time.

That realization changed how I thought about investing in the business. I had hesitated to put all of our eggs in one basket. So much of our livelihood already depended on the company, and committing more money to it felt like concentrating our risk. Understanding that we were also building an asset helped me see those investments differently.

I became more comfortable taking on debt when I could connect it to investments that would strengthen the company and support future growth. My understanding of leverage—using borrowed money to invest—was growing. I began asking more informed questions about what borrowing would allow us to build and whether the business could support the commitment.

Managing our balance sheet took on new meaning. Assets minus liabilities equals equity. I was learning to consider what we owned and what we owed together, and to pay attention to the equity we were building.

Alongside that, I was learning to recognize the value of an operating company, including its ability to generate income in the future. That value can extend beyond the figures recorded on a balance sheet.

Seeing that broader picture gave me more confidence to weigh the risk of borrowing against what an investment could help us build. Debt became something I could evaluate in the context of the company’s financial strength, future earning capacity, and long-term value.

That understanding did not remove the need for discipline. The business still needed enough cash flow to make its loan payments. An increase in company value would not pay a monthly bill. I had to understand both the lasting value we were creating and our ability to meet the obligations we were taking on.

By 2020, we made our first investment in commercial real estate and became more confident investing in future growth through additions and upgrades to our fleet and equipment. I could connect those decisions to a bigger picture: what the business needed today, what it could earn in the future, and the value we hoped to build over time.

As my understanding grew, some of my hesitation about concentrating so much of our future in the business quieted. The risk was still there, but I had a better framework for assessing it.

Supporting our family was how we started. Understanding the value we could build changed how I approached the company’s future—and our own.