From Injury to Industry Leader: How Brandon Pankey Grew a Thriving Arborist Business

After a devastating injury left him unable to work, Brandon Pankey didn’t just adapt—he built something better. Drawing on his arborist credentials and a deep-rooted sense of purpose, Brandon founded Blue Pine Works LLC, a full-service arboriculture and land management company serving Minnesota and Wisconsin. His story, featured in this edition of the Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur Spotlight series, is a testament to resilience, strategic growth, and community impact. From scaling operations and mentoring new arborists to redefining professionalism in the field, Brandon’s journey is a powerful reminder that setbacks can spark the strongest roots of success.

Hi, Brandon Pankey! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?

Blue Pine Works LLC is a full-service arboriculture and land management company based in Pine City, Minnesota. We serve residential, commercial, and municipal clients across East Central Minnesota and Western Wisconsin who value quality, safety, and environmental stewardship.

Our team provides advanced tree care, plant health care, and land management services — from precision pruning and technical removals to large-scale vegetation management and consulting. We combine top-tier expertise with modern equipment and a safety-first culture led by the area’s only Board Certified Master Arborist (BCMA).

Our impact extends beyond trees. We’re building local workforce capacity through registered apprenticeship programs, mentoring new arborists, and partnering with educational institutions to professionalize the industry. Every project we take on aims to improve community safety, preserve valuable green infrastructure, and promote sustainable land use practices.

Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.

The moment I became an entrepreneur was when I realized that what we were doing was able to be scaled, and that I couldn't do it all on my own. Once I hit that point my goal has been focused on building a company that people want to support, be a part of, and help grow. 

Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.

I had broke my neck and suffered from a tbi and spine injuries in 2021 working in the shipyards in Washington State. It didn't heal property, as I found out a few years later. When the injuries got aggravated I was unable to keep working at my current job. People that knew me said I should start a business, having a degree and being a certified arborist. I had some side work lined up, so all that was left was paperwork. Once filing, insurance, etc was completed it became reality and grew exponentially. 

Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?

In our case, a good CRM and SEO agency have been indispensable. They help us to track leads, maintain customer information, and deal with a glut of data effectively. That and being willing to take a hit short term for long term gain. We sacrificed so much to buy certain pieces of equipment, knowing that it would make the job easier, higher profile, and more efficient. I'm talking chippers, lifts, loaders, saws. You name it. 

We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.

We had been investing very heavily in employees without understanding human resources. That was very costly. We were paying people really well ($30+ per hour to start) but could not maintain loyalty and outputs like we needed. We had an instance of an employee going off the rails and threatening our well being. That was a catalyst to change how we operated and become more formal in our hr practices. So contracts, documentation, real interviews, background checks, SOP's, monthly reporting, etc. The more that we operated like an established company (the big companies), the less we had to worry and the better our employee candidate base became. 

What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?

An unconventional strategy we employed was to be friendly. Make "business friends". I'm pretty antisocial, so this wasn't super easy for me. But we found business folks around us who were good people that we wanted our business entity to support. Remember, you aren't the business, it has its own number that it reports to the government with. So we made this network of business owners who care a bit how we're doing. And we have an interest in helping them succeed. We do shout-outs on social media to them, and help promote them a bit. It makes business ownership a bit less lonely, and can give you support when things get tough. 

What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?

Aim high. I'm not talking blindly shooting to be a billionaire, but have specific long term goals that you can deconstruct as to how to get there. For us this year, we had a specific target for gross revenue that we aimed for. At the end of 2024, we couldn't fathom hitting that number, but I set it in our minds as the goal. We blew that number out of the water by nearly as much as our gross revenue was last year. The steps we took to achieve that goal paid dividends higher than we could have anticipated. 

Want to dive deeper into  Brandon's work? Check out the links below!

• Visit Blue Pine Works LLC's website: bluepineworks.com
• Follow Blue Pine Works LLC on LinkedIn: Blue Pine Works LLC
• Find Blue Pine Works LLC on Facebook: Blue Pine Works LLC