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Two Apprenticeships, One Bold Career Path
From landscaping to lumberjack to launching his own tree business.
Solia Venture
August 21, 2025
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At 15, our family friend Lucien finished school and stepped straight into a life of hands-on learning outdoors. Growing up, his father worked in landscaping, and Lucien spent countless weekends hiking with his family or climbing with the Swiss Alpine Club.
“Being outside was always my thing. So choosing landscaping felt natural.”
Photo taken during Lucien’s landscaping apprenticeship.
Building a reinforced concrete wall finished with a hand-carved stone facade.
Why Two Apprenticeships?
After completing three years as a landscaper, Lucien felt he wasn’t done learning. (He was around 18 by then — just in time to begin a second apprenticeship.)
His brother was already working as a lumberjack, and our dad (who also did that training) encouraged him to try it too.
“Your dad told me, ‘If you want to learn how to really work hard, go through lumberjack training.’ And he was right!”
Thanks to his previous experience, Lucien was able to complete the second apprenticeship in just two years instead of three.
Photo taken during Lucien’s lumberjack apprenticeship.
Timber extraction using a mobile cable crane system.
Double Skills, Double Confidence
Two apprenticeships gave Lucien an edge.
“Landscaping taught me aesthetics, while lumberjack work taught me precision and safety. Together, they make you a better professional.”
He also learned how to use chainsaws in extreme conditions, including up in trees with ropes — a skill that’s become essential in his current work.
“It’s a huge advantage when you’re an arborist.”
San Francisco and New Horizons
After his second apprenticeship, Lucien’s curiosity took him far from the Swiss mountains.
“I wanted new challenges, new experiences — to see a different way of working and improve my English.”
So he came to San Francisco, lived with us for a year and a half, and worked in our dad’s tree company, Arborist Now, which specializes in tree care and removal. It gave him hands-on experience in a different environment and helped expand his skills even further.
Lucien (second from the left) with the crew from Arborist Now, a San Francisco tree care company, where he worked in 2016.
A Job That’s Not Without Risk
After returning from the U.S., Lucien spent a year and a half working for a mobile cable crane company.
Where the beauty of the forest meets the challenge of the climb.
The job involved setting up cable systems to extract felled trees from forests.
“We’d install the cable line, move out the wood, then take everything down and start again on a new site.”
One day, he was operating the machine near a river while his coworker was hooking logs in the forest.
“Suddenly, there was a massive jolt — the main support cable snapped under the weight of the trunks.”
The cable, possibly defective, wasn’t supposed to break.
“The whole bundle of cable dropped right in front of me. Thankfully no one got hit — but it was a dangerous moment.”
He adds, after a pause:
“It’s a dangerous job.”
Starting His Own Company
At 26, Lucien launched his own arborist business, Treebreathe — a name that reflects his deep connection to trees and the natural world.
“I always wanted to do things my way. In a company, I sometimes saw better ways to work, but the boss didn’t want to listen. So I thought, why not just create my own path?”
Dismantling a cedar tree with a crane truck, with his own company.
Precision work in urban arboriculture.
Sawing a sequoia log.
A glimpse into Lucien’s work as an independent arborist.
Lucien has also founded an association to raise awareness about the work of lumberjacks and to invite people to tree-planting mornings in the forest, giving them a chance to ask questions and see the job up close — and to break the stereotype that lumberjacks only cut trees without respecting nature.
 Where commitment takes root. |  Forest care for the next generation, with the next generation. |
Now, five years later, he runs a business that reflects everything he values: skill, safety, and a close connection to nature.
“I wouldn’t change a thing. Everything I’ve done — even the tough parts — brought me here.”
From Trees to Paper: A Summer Collaboration
This summer, I had the chance to work with Lucien in a different way — not in the trees, but on paper. He asked me to create a custom card for his clients, something that would reflect the care and professionalism he puts into his work as an arborist. I took inspiration from his website to come up with the design, and delivering these cards in Switzerland was such a special project for me. It combined creativity, gratitude, and the connection between two small businesses built with care.
🤝 Before You Go
🧐 Curious what a card like Lucien’s could look like for your business? We’d love to help bring your idea to life. Just hit reply.
💌 New here? You can still catch up — read our previous newsletters here.
🔁 And if you know someone who might need this newsletter today, feel free to forward it their way.
Solène & Zélia, for SoliaVenture
Sharing his love for nature with his young son.
P.S. If you’re in San Francisco and need expert tree care, check out our dad’s company, Arborist Now. And if you’re near Lausanne, Treebreathe is our top recommendation!
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SoliaVenture is our creative adventure as young entrepreneurs, and we’re excited to share it with you! While we design and create the cards ourselves, we receive the support and supervision of our parents for managing the business operations as we continue learning and growing.
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