I love making a payment on a new mini that is never hung over, tired, sore, can't listen, etc.
If you couldn't afford a chainsaw, and only had manual saws, how would you feel about debt?
Do you have steady business? Do you want to build more business by saving your strength, energy and time to do administrative stuff?
Think about what else you can do with the machine beyond tree work. I'm going to do another job where the lot is super covered in blackberry brambles where you can't walk through. An older lady has trees that have to go because they're dying. She wants to put it back into 'woodland'. I told her, I could clear all the blackberries above ground, level out some piles of debris, shoving it all into a low spot. I can them move the chipper in with the machine, chip everything right where it is, spraying mulch over disturbed areas, then move all the firewood over a trailer, cutting it to rounds, dropping directly into the trailer.
Easy for me, twiddling levers. Great for her and the neighbors, as the blackberries are a pain to manually clear, they make good rodent habitat, and she will get a lot of the mulch broadcast and/ or spread with the bucket.
With a big open landing zone, I can dump bigger pieces, then also have lots of pulling power to pull it over backwards in a large piece, bringing the wood even close to the road.
Build your business credit, and your personal credit rating! Will your ever want to get a mortgage?
Buy a machine! You have one back, two wrists. Save your body for technical work.
NOT buying a machine sooner HELD ME BACK!
Also, no worker's comp. Easier to fix than a tweaked back.
You have a good situation in that a major part of your work force is invested in building the business, with vested interest.
You have snow there, too. I see a machine making you money on hard to access areas, if you can find them. You can make money on easy access areas, but not like someone with a plow, naturally. If you can add a few driveway clearings at neighbors' to where you're already doing tree work, its an easy, very low risk add-on.