Get To Know Leaf & Limb: Meet Colin

This month, we meet Colin, the founding father and formidable force behind Leaf & Limb.

The first question I ask everybody is to introduce yourself.

I'm Colin. I am the founder of Leaf & Limb. I started this business back in 1997. I’m currently in the process of bowing out of the business. I've gotten to the age now where I’m not really thinking of retiring, but more so trying to take a backseat role. I’ll still be a little involved in the areas that are of interest to me. I’m still involved in training to some extent. Over the next few years, I'll phase out until I am no longer really working in the business.

What do you think you're gonna do when you're not working at Leaf & Limb?

That is probably the biggest question I have. It’s along the lines of what do you want to be when you grow up. I've never really figured that out.

Maybe some traveling on the horizon? Lots of time with my grandchildren. I love that. Writing; I enjoy writing. I think I'm a reasonably good writer, so I'll probably delve into that. Art, mainly drawing has always been something that I have aspired to. I think I have some natural talent there, and I might explore that.

What originally drew you to this kind of work?

Well, originally, it was a necessity. I was part of corporate America. I was the operations manager at a large international paper company. I was also homeschooling along with my wife. My wife did most of it, but I was busy all the time. I was overseeing three different shifts, so I had three different pagers. I was on call all the time, and life was getting a little too hectic. I wasn't sure what I wanted, but I had some cousins who were in the tree business. I went out and interned with one of them and found out that I really liked it.

So I started my own business to make my own decisions, hoping to run a better company than the ones I'd been part of. I enjoyed the outdoors aspect of it. I valued the freedom to manage my own time. I liked interacting with people and selling work. I was fortunate to find a business that fits who I am.

What's the most surprising thing about how it's all turned out?

Over the years, especially with my son Basil joining the company, I've become more passionate about trees. I always thought they were beautiful, but I saw their value as something more peripheral to my main business. The most surprising thing is that I have shifted from just chopping down trees to caring more about preserving them. I didn't see that coming at all. I give a lot of credit to my son. It’s been a genuine learning experience.

I think what I like the most is that we’re becoming a thought leader within the industry. We could possibly be one of the companies that changes the direction of the tree industry. We certainly would like to do that.

Do you have a funny or weird incident that happened on the job?

A long time ago, when I was doing sales, I visited a client who was a super nice guy. I was actually with one of my other sons, Stuart, who is in sales now. The client told me the trees I needed to look at were in the back of the property, and we had to go through the house to get there. While we were inside, he suddenly stopped and said, 'You know, your hair smells really good.' He lightly placed his hands on me so he could sniff my head and took a deep whiff. At that point, I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen next. Anyway, we got the job, and it worked out well. But I didn't go back to the job because I didn't want to give him another chance to sniff my hair.

Tell me a couple of things that you'd like people to know about you.

I grew up under apartheid in South Africa. I was very happy when regime change came with Nelson Mandela. I have a very tender spot in my heart for South Africa. I love its nature; the beauty, the aesthetics, the wildlife. I lived in Cape Town. The beaches were beautiful.

I loved the vibe, the food, the sheer Africanness of it. My childhood memories are very, very happy ones. I attended an all-boys Catholic school. We moved to the Netherlands when I was 16, which was a pretty big culture shock—from a deeply religious, conservative country to a place at the forefront of everything permissible. You know, the Beatles were banned in South Africa because John Lennon said they were more popular than Jesus.

I know I can have an abrasive personality. I'm very direct and I have strong opinions, but there is a soft inner core to me. I do deeply care, especially about people. I probably care about people more than I do nature. Sometimes it makes me a little sad that people perceive me as an old curmudgeon, a hardcore individual.

OK. Here goes. I try to portray myself as a rugged individualist but I am a 100% sucker for Hallmark movies. And I even get misty sometimes. Every single one has basically the same storyline. Two people get together. There's a little bit of contention at first, then they figure out they like each other, they fall in love, and then something happens, and one has to go. And the other one pursues them and voilà, happily ever after.

I am more of an action sci-fi kind of guy, but I admit I love the Hallmark movies. There, I said it.