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to the elm, however, we might point out an ash which, although seemingly healthy now, will soon become problematic and increasingly difficult to remove as it dies from the invasive emerald ash borer. Each of the 75 properties our consultants visit in a week offers opportunities like these to educate and inform. Our consulting arborists are selected for their genuine interest in trees and ecology, and we maintain and attract these arborists by guaranteeing their pay independent of the sales that they make. We tell our consultants that their mandate, first and foremost, is to give good advice. To understand what this means, we have our consultants imagine being asked, towards the end of a consultation, “What would you advise about my trees if I were your own dear mother?” Their answer should be: “The same advice that I have given.” We invest in this kind of detailed and property-specific advice, and the education of our clients, as a value-driven alternative to advertising. That it is effective and valued by our clients is shown by the ever-increasing demand for our services as our clients recommend us to their friends and neighbors. It is effective in part because of how distinctive our consultations are from many other tree services. When clients receive multiple bids from multiple tree services many of these will, whether intentionally or not, profit at the expense of trees and the community, selling unnecessary tree work through the already-present fears and naivety of the public. We are motivated by the idea that every next property we can visit is a property we can benefit through the education and options that we provide in contrast to those who simply intend to profit from tree cutting. While Orange County does have publicly supported institutes such as local arboretums and the NC Botanical Garden that offer excellent and ecologically sound information to residents, these institutions tend to preach to the choir, speaking largely to those who already have a healthy interest in trees. We get invited into the backyards of all those same people along with everyone else, offering the kind of advice one might hear at the NC Botanical Garden, but in direct reference and application to the homeowner’s specific trees and landscape. It is an incredibly direct, individualized, and rapid avenue for connecting the resident to their property. We therefore see the growth of our company as both reflecting and expanding the valuable service we provide to our community. Our staff currently includes the following certifications of the International Society of Arboriculture: eight Certified Arborists, four arborists qualified in Tree Risk Assessment, and one Board Certified Master Arborist. A larger and expanded facility would allow us to more than double our capacity and impact. 10 27