Making a Living Doing What I Enjoy

During my senior year of high school when everybody else was deciding what university they would go to I decided to apply to technical school and learn a trade that I knew I would be able to find steady work in after I graduated. I had always enjoyed working on cars, so that’s the road I took. I also took classes in welding and got specialized training inaluminum welding. Putting all these together I was able to find an excellent job as an auto mechanic and then incorporate my specialized training into that trade.

Perfecting the techniques of aluminum welding helped me to repair difficult engine oil leaks that are generally very time consuming and costly. I wanted to be able to do these types of repairs in a way that is not as expensive as other mechanics might be. I felt it was important to give customers a better service without them having to pay an arm and a leg to have the repairs done.

It didn’t take long for me to move up the ladder and be successful in the business I worked for, but I wanted more. I wanted my own business even though I knew that would take a lot of long hours and hard work. After working for somebody else for five years, I finally decided it was time to start my own business. I knew which repairs were the most expensive and those were the types of repairs I would specialize in, charging much less than every other shop in town. I was able to do this because those expensive repairs required the use of aluminum welding in which I was very specialized in. My business grew by word of mouth. Satisfied customers told their friends where they could get repairs, such astransmission housing repair and aluminum cylinder heads repair, done for almost half the price as the other shops charged.

I’ve had my own shop for more than 10 years and I employ five other mechanics. My shop has grown from a one-room garage to a five-bay garage. I still think about my classmates who decided to go to college and how many of them are now out of work because of the economy. My simple decision to learn a trade and then specialize in aluminum weldingwas the best decision I ever made. I know I will never be out of a job because as long as there are people there will always be cars. And as long as there are cars, those cars will need repairs.