I was just wondering If any others on here have a multiple career background much like myself, I know a few were raised in the business , some by accident, some just too creative to let others do work for them........................
As for me I've been a car guy since I could get my hands on a toolbox drawer, grew up on the farm working on all the broke stuff , so I started out as a mechanic, decided to carry on a family tradition of auto body repair and refinishing, so I went to school for that, got good at that then bored after a few years of production work. Then I went to work one morning backed the truck up to the door and loaded all my tools in search of a better day. 6 months later got into trucking, one year later got into grading and clearing land, had a good run for 17 yrs and one day it just stopped, the economy concerning building and construction just said.... I'm taking a nap.
Well, had to do something for a living so here I am, turned a hobby into full time because I enjoy it, I love the process of designing and building even if its seats or boats or cars or whatever.
Just wondering if some of you are in the same boat seat :D so to speak.
Great topic.
My younger years created a lot of experiences for me. I have been a work-a-holic since I was 12. After Boot Camp in the Marine ( I was a reservist ) I went to school and became an EMT and ambulance attendant at 18. I got tired of dealing with druggies and drunks so I went to work at a funeral home and served my apprenticeship as a mortician at 19. I ended up working part time in the funeral home for 14 years ( I married the owners daughter) doing embalming, body removals and working funerals. I loved the work and enjoyed being there for others during their times of loss.
I went to work shoveling coal for a public utility at the age of 20 and started a ferocious climb up the ladder. First -power plant operations then thermal energy operations then water operations and finally corporate planning which included marketing and PR. It is one of the largest Municipal utilities in the country and they were an awesome employer to work for. I loved my jobs I had there right up to retirement and the retirement benefits I walked out the door with are awesome.
I flipped a few houses several times for extra money (my kids were schooled in private schools...ouch ). I think that is where I found a love for working on homes.
In my free time I started my own marketing agency in the late 80's working with local race car drivers. From there I moved up the ranks and into NASCAR. In the late 90's I started consulting to companies which included numerous Fortune 500 companies. Then the wheels all came off. I got diagnosed with Leukemia in 2000 and was forced into retirement at the Utility.
I kept my marketing agency in tact and worked a limited schedule while doing chemo. I had a few clients but those few were demanding and several were overseas. I did a lot of traveling back then and had an awesome time. Then after numerous strokes I lost alot of my cognitive abilities and had to close down the agency. Still wanting to do something I picked up upholstery work and the rest as they say is history.
Like I said I have always been a workaholic. I was never happy unless I was working and doing something. I worked two and three jobs sometimes and worked 16 hours a day 7 days a week. I loved it and loved just working. Today, not much has changed. I still love to work but can no longer do long days and nights. I work a few hours in the morning and a few at night and call it good.
I will be doing something till the day I die and if I cannot do anything then someone please punch my ticket with a bullet and send me on my way to meet my maker. :)
Chris
After getting a couple of degrees in math, I went to work for a series of Fortune 100 companies as a database analyst and software support engineer. Then I went to work for a company whose flagship product was a major database management system. After a couple of years of that, I moved over to be lead engineer on another product, a system development system. I spent a number of years at that (24 in all). I enjoyed the people and the work. But the company always struggled and we had regular reductions in staff, from over 1500 world-wide down to about 700 when I left. During that time, I developed a serious interest in woodworking and furniture building.
Finally, I had enough, resigned, and started a furniture repair business. As I said, I patiently tunneled, then broke to the surface and ran like hell. I expected my colleagues to think me nuts, but without exception, every farewell went something like, "You are so lucky to have something you can do well and enjoy." Celebrating 9 years this month.
Sure ya got enough time?
First real job in addition to paper routes and cutting lawns was busing tables in Miami at the ripe old age of 13. I remember my salary was $1.50 an hour plus tips. Worked in restaurants & a 15 min oil change joint & then a hardware store throughout high school & college. Did well in school & got a Crim Justice degree from Buff State. After a brief stint in law enforcement decided I didn't want to be a cop. No offense!
During the 23 yrs between then and buying the canvas studio in 2004 I've done just about anything you can imagine:
Roofing & siding
Warehouse supervisor
Apprentice plumber
Popcorn machine repairman
Apartment complex superintendent
Nursing home maintenance supervisor
Painter of hardwood cabinets
Postal service employee
Head mechanic @ 36 hole country club
Painter specializing in faux finishes: marbling, faux wood grain, etc.
Which leads us to the present. Was painting with/for the guy who owned the shop next to where the canvas shop er, studio, is. Eddie got sick with Crohns(sp?) disease which eventually killed him. And he didn't trust anybody else to be the lead man so work was sporadic.
The previous owner of my studio stuck his head around the corner one day & asked if I knew anybody that wanted to buy a canvas shop. I said I dunno, how much? Should mention that I'd recently divorced and made out purty well. My ex didn't want anything more than the furniture, TV, and the new(er) pick-up. I figgered that was a heckuva deal?
So anyway yanked some equity outa my house & next thing ya know I was the proud new owner of a canvas and cushion business. Regardless of the fact I'd never sat behind a sewing machine in my life, had no business skills, etc. Figgered what the heck ...?
I wanted to be a male stripper, but I failed the written test. :D
My Grandparents were upholsterers. My parents were upholsterers.
My fate was sealed. ;)
Quote from: sofadoc on January 20, 2012, 03:55:46 pm
I wanted to be a male stripper, but I failed the written test. :D
My Grandparents were upholsterers. My parents were upholsterers.
My fate was sealed. ;)
There's a written test? Alls I had to do was pass the physical test, with flying colors I might add ... Ah well don't feel so bad SD. There are worse fates.
Always wished my family had been in business,
specially after going into business myself ... But they were too smart. Mom is an RN & Dad was a college professor. Granpappy Jack was an engineer @ GE for 30yrs. Gramma Dottie was a partier.
Great thread!
My first job at 16 was working in a motion picture developing lab. I developed 32mm, 16mm, 8mm, and then Super 8 when that came out. Color and black and white. I learned responsibility and motivation at that job.
Most of my adult life I was in sales and marketing in the industrial paper packaging industry.
I started my upholstery studio full time 7 years ago after getting burned out with the corporate world about 9 years ago. I would have been down sized eventually anyway, which is another reason I am glad I got out. AND!!!I haven't done a corporate report in 7 years!!!
gene
After hoght school I started working with my dad pinging and wallparering. Then I got into drywall and exterior stucco then at about 23 I went to a deliver driving job. That comapany went belly up and I got s job at a office furniture company buildig wooden furniture. Tables counters cabinets exct.
I got marked had a son and then needed more kney so I went back to stucco work. For a while. Then after my mom died my dad became handicapped and started a little sewing shop repairing canvas. I would stop b to help out and then I ended up raking over had a small BItshop whole I was doing that. Did that for 14 years Somwehre in ther got divoced had nothing to loose but the kid after that I moved to Florida in 2004 ( same time you started doug) and that the rest of the sort for the last 8 years
Reformed computer geek (plant floor systems integration and custom programming). Got tired of being a desk jockey and the corporate politics that went along with it.
June
I knew this topic would be interesting, Even though we all have things in our lives that have directed us into this field, I would say it's an independent "bone" that turns our head and keeps us looking for ways to make our mark on our little world. Creativity just can't be held back. Another thing, of course this is my opinion, but I would be willing to wager that the majority of us could step into most any position anywhere and run the wheels of the thing!!!! ;D
Dropped out of university... worked a lot of crud jobs and often only had my income from the armed forces reserve to live on (ate good on weekends though)...landed a job with Mister Minute ™ a "while you wait" shoe repair/knife scissor & sharpening/key cutting/ engraving chain in the malls. ....
got brain numb managing those outlets and wanted to learn more so convinced a shoe maker to apprentice me. Worked there as a journeyman for another couple of years then moved to Kenora Ontario to work for the orthotist who had been my operations manager at minute because I loved the area (Peter and I had stayed friends after we left Minute)....Ther wasn't enough work on my side of shop so spent a year working on the lake (Lake of the Woods) as a caretaker/contractor....
March of '95 I went to do some sewing for a friend who made custom bags/pouches/etc.. in a studio above an upholstery shop. We went down for coffee with them and things went from there.
you and me both June, that corporate BS drives me nuts
I just cant keep my mouth shut heheh always getting
into trouble for letting managers know how I felt :-)
I worked so many jobs I can't remember half of them
plastics engineer
deck hand on diving vessels
builder
mechanic
paint sprayers helper
teacher
and many more bysides
Rich
I originally wanted to be a jockey, but that didn't work out. Those of you who have met me know why,
I grew up in a resort town near St Petersburg and as a teen jobs were easy to find at the hotels and resorts. Back then stone yards were real popular and one guy had me sifting his yard through a makeshift sifter to get the stones back to the top if the dirt. $1.50 an hour.
After graduating High School went to work for Winn Dixie and traveled up the ranks for four years before realizing the only way to advance was to do a lot of butt kissing. Not my cup of tea.
Went to trade school and got a job drafting for an engineering company. Kinda cool job. They had a contract with Fl Power to make all there substations controllable from one location, via telephone lines. This is also where I met my wife. After four years the contract ran out and I could see the writing on the wall so I got another neat job with a map making company. The department I worked in mapped the ocean floor for NOAA.
1984 my new bride and I moved to Hickory NC. We didn't have a clue where we were going to live or work but we were young and resourceful and Hickory was a booming industrial town. We knew we would find jobs doing something. This is something I would never dream of doing today but I met a guy who was a plant manager for Hickory Business Furniture (Hickory Chair) and he agreed to start me off as an upholsterer apprentice.
1989 we started our own business in Charleston SC with a shoe string budget and a prayer. One year later Hurricane Hugo blew through and gave us a wind fall (NPI) of business.
1999 we moved back to Fl to start another upholstery company near Gainesville.
Through good times and bad we always manage to keep our heads above water and I am now starting a job for an upstart upholstery company in Jacksonville. The future always looks bright. Wish me luck.
Quote from: byhammerandhand on January 21, 2012, 04:17:54 pm
I originally wanted to be a jockey, but that didn't work out. Those of you who have met me know why,
Now Darren and I - we could have been jockeys. eh Darren? 8) But then horses are so dang big! Scares the crap out of me and I'm fearless! ;D
Quote from: kodydog on January 21, 2012, 04:59:51 pm
Through good times and bad we always manage to keep our heads above water and I am now starting a job for an upstart upholstery company in Jacksonville. The future always looks bright. Wish me luck.
Good Luck Kody! Sounds exciting. Will you be able to live where you do now? or will you have to move to Jax?
Junel
Interesting Kody I never thought of a hurricane bringing work to upholstery roofers builder boat canvas. Ya I gueese my couch would be last kn my list
Mike Rowe speaks on the trades:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=cC0JPs-rcF0
I joined the Navy at the ripe old age of 17 and worked on jet ejection seats and in the same shop was the parachute riggers and sewing machines! 6 years into the Navy I met some bomb disposal divers and got into that which included being a navy prachutist and a paraoft with sewing machines. I retired after 22 years but did the bomb disposal as a civilian and bought a sailboat to live on which drove the necesity to get a sewing machine to do my own canvas work (after paying too much for a bimini). Doing other sewing projects for my marina neighbors is what got me into the business. I'm still on a retainer with the bomb company, I have my shop in the marina that I live in. My wife (she was a manager at West Marine) and I run the shop now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zey8567bcg
gene
Quote from: rustyeod on January 22, 2012, 05:32:25 am
My wife (she was a manager at West Marine) and I run the shop now.
do you meen the canvas shop not west marine ?
Mike
She was a manager at West and wanted to quit so she learned to sew, quit west, and came to work with me. Now she holds her own in the shop and does it all.
I did 2 years in the army then became a millwright apprentice in 76. The economy got bad and in 84 I got a job in a local factory as a maintenance mechanic. I did all sorts of things but mostly worked with the boilers and A/c systems. In the late 90s they began to contract all of the HVAC work out which pushed me out and they retrained me as an electrician. After 28 years I am still there and looking towards retirement. That is why I am learning the upholsterery trade I plan to work till I cant move my fingers.
Quotewe could have been jockeys. eh Darren?
Don't laugh---- I almost did. Friends of the family ran ponies in the chariot circuit.Billy is a BIG man. Like 275 pound with a belly that hung over the front rail of the chariot.They wanted me to come drive for them, and I was sorely tempted,but I was still in high school and couldn't do both.
In 1971 I wrote letters to every dealership in and around the north of England looking for an apprenticeship in the auto trades. I was car mad as a kid, and was offered an apprenticeship as a coach builder. I worked in the "commercial" facility of a major Ford dealership. We where provided various chassis and cab variations from the factory and built bodies to suit the buyers needs. I was sent to tech school once a week to be instructed in woodwork, panel beating, painting, etc. After about three months an apprentice was needed in the trim shop. No one wanted the job, including me, but being the runt of the litter, I was chosen. Have not had another career since. Served my time, and decided to concentrate on"vintage and veteran" cars. Leather work mostly, tonneau,s, tops (hoods!) lots of woodwork, door panels floorboards top frames, and although the big bucks where in vinyl tops and sun roofs in the new cars, I found I had a steady and usually prosperous clientele. I went into business with a trimmer I had spent time with and managed a couple of apprentices of my own, and yes, did the odd vinyl top, sunroof, carpet job, and all the production type repairs, but stayed mainly on the older cars. In "81 I met a guy with a collection of old Rolls Royce and Bentley's, who was in need of a trimmer. He owned a number of businesses in Los Angeles and provided me with a work permit. I spent a year in L. A. then moved up to San Francisco where I met my wife. I have been married 28 years. Since then, I have had the good fortune to stay busy, and work on some incredible cars. I think the decision to stick to what I was familiar with has enabled me to stay busy without having to advertise, I did have a clientele who provided me with regular work and through the mid eighties to a couple of years ago I have always had at least one car with my interior work on display at Pebble Beach and other prestigious events. However, last year,for the first time, I missed a deadline. Time was tight and although I used to revel in 18 hour days working to get a car "on the lawn" I found I could no longer do it. I am 56 this year and consider myself to be in pretty good shape, but my eyes have gone wacky (on Costco 175's but may go up!) my hands are arthritic, and have a little carpal tunnel going on for good measure. SO, this year no prestigious, judged to the hilt projects for me, small one day to one week max projects, for people who wish to drive and enjoy their cars. I plan to embark on some furniture projects I have been planning to do for oh, 15 years, and yes, I can tie springs, am familiar with exotic stuffing's and hand stitching techniques, all used on cars "back in the day" Might even get to work on my own cars! We have a couple of old commercial buildings we bought with our retirement money, about a day before the bottom fell out of the economy, but we figure we would have lost the money in our pension funds anyway so at least we own some " Americana" 100 year old buildings (old for way out west!) I have taken care of all the wiring, plumbing, sheetrock, paint etc etc myself and some day labor, and all I need now are tenants(no luck with that) I intend to work until people refuse to pay me for my labor, later rather than sooner! While this is not the most lucrative of trades, I believe it is good for the soul. Your work is there for the whole world to see, and more often than not we push ourselves too hard to please, but in hindsight I really can't think of anything I would rather do.
After highschool I went to art school and ended up in Material Arts and Design. A catch-all program of jewelry making, ceramics, and textiles. Having been my moms sewing helper as a kid I fit right into textiles. I really liked the looms and weaving cloth but didn't like sitting at them, and found basket weaving to be even cooler. I was told I was the only person to graduate identifying as a basket weaver. After school I went into 'production' and did craft shows. I loved the work, but hated the sales.
As a sideline I was a carpenter/drywaller/painter/general labourer. I found a job at an upholstery shop as a filler for the winter before I went back to basket weaving. Then I met a woman, then I got married, then I really started to love my job. Then kids, mortgage, domestic bliss ect ect. Now ten years later I can't believe how lucky I was to stumble onto this career.
Quote from: JuneC on January 21, 2012, 06:25:24 pm
Good Luck Kody! Sounds exciting. Will you be able to live where you do now? or will you have to move to Jax?
June
Thanks June. Last July we bought a fixer upper in St Augustine at the bottom of the housing market (I hope). Neat thing is its three blocks from the inter-coastal. Went kayaking today. They say the Red Fish are moving inland. Back in Live Oak now. New job starts next week.
Quote from: kodydog on January 22, 2012, 07:01:45 pm
Last July we bought a fixer upper in St Augustine at the bottom of the housing market (I hope).
New job starts next week.
Congrats Kody!
You are always free to say NOYFB, but if you don't mind me askin', is this new job in addition to, or in place of your home based upholstery business?
Good luck either way.
My dad always had a sideline business doing paint and body and building hot rods other than his regular 40 hr a week job as a state maintenance foreman, so I helped him out in the shop a lot and kind of took that over as he got older and wanted to slow down a bit. In the mean time as an older teenager I tool a job in a local parts store as a delivery driver then on to work the counter and then to sales in the paint and body dept. I quit that to take a job as a tool maker in a local plastic factory since I was getting married and needed a better paycheck. I quickly became the lead journeyman mold maker there and worked for about 14 years to quit and take over the Welder/machinest foreman job that my dad had just retired from after 40 years with the state. All along I was still doing custom body work and paint first at dad's shop, then I built my own shop out back and moved the operation here in the evenings and weekends. Somewhere along the way I added upholstery into the mix in the shop offering a complete service for customers. Dad always wanted to learn upholstery, and once years ago while I was doing a night shift stint in the factory that I hated, he showed up one morning and took me to Louisville , where we ended up at a dealer of sewing machines and he bought me a new Consew 206. I started practicing, bought some books and videos, then took on a small job or two then decided to do the interior on a 1960 Buick I was restoring for a local car dealer. I was still working a full time job elsewhere and several times I almost ditched it in favor for working for my self. I was ready to do it I felt, then the economy started tanking back in 06-07 so I stuck it out at my day job, until back in 08-09 I discovered a state prison was taking over the grounds of the state hospital where I worked in maintenance. They laid off all the foremen with the idea prisoners could do all the work. I was forced to go full time on my own. and admit it's been extremely tough during this recession/depression we've been in. My wife was a teacher staying home with our kids, so she found work back in the school system and things are going decent in the shop. I've to an extent kept doing full ground up builds for people, but take on late model repairs both body and interior along with marine upholstery. I've slowly been more selective with the body repairs and by the end of this years should be geared totally to trim work. Although I have a large shop I lack the divided clean room for interior and regular work area, so I spend a great deal of time just switching from one job type to another. I'm also spreading myself way too thin taking on all types of work. It's the upholstery side that I truly have an interest in and am letting customers know that's what my shop is advertised as now.
Kyle
Quote from: sofadoc on January 22, 2012, 08:10:41 pm
You are always free to say NOYFB, but if you don't mind me askin', is this new job in addition to, or in place of your home based upholstery business?
Good luck either way.
I'll be going to Live Oak on weekends to work, at least for a while. Maybe till my (3) yellow pages ads runs out next year. And I'll always be available for my best customers. Any jobs I get on the coast I'll send to my new employer. There a father and son operation. The son owns three businesses and the father is the one with the upholstery experience. They have some good ideas and I can see this business really taking off.
Wow, I'm surprised at how many of us are ex-military. I was a parachute rigger in the Air Force. Even though the AF now throws away chutes with holes in them, the tradition of having machines in the shop stayed. So it was our job not only to inspect and pack chutes and all survival equipment, but also to fabricate covers for outdoor ground equipment and sew patches on officers' flight suits.
They use Consew 206-rb machines (or did when I was in), and we were taught how to use and time them.
I've also driven a bus and a limousine, was a secretary, worked in retail and bartended. I could never go back to working for someone else. Ever.
Quote from: Mike on January 21, 2012, 07:33:02 pm
Interesting Kody I never thought of a hurricane bringing work to upholstery roofers builder boat canvas. Ya I gueese my couch would be last kn my list
We got to see first hand what a storm serge can do. A designer we worked for had a house right on the beach. We looked at it from the road and it didn't look bad except the front door missing. We walked around to the beach side and that whole side of the house was missing. The inside was gutted.
People were bringing us pieces that looked like they dragged them out of the bay. Covered in "pluff" mud. We were so busy we could pick and choose. If you don't know what pluff mud is check this out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_vtWQnBRak
I have BA in Journalism, mainly because I hated to do math (but it explains why I write so much in my responses). I worked for 5 years in community newspapers, covering city council meetings, public issues, murders and trials, all the stuff you see in the newspaper on a daily basis. Kind of got tired of going after people every day, so started working for an "independent free weekly" paper in our state capital of Springfield. BIG mistake. I didn't wear tiedye and sandals, and rather than NPR on my office radio, I was listening to Rush Limbaugh. So we parted ways. After which I spent a few months in a wood shop building custom cabintry for an area housing developer.
I discovered why my dad (a retired carpenter) loved building things. Instead of just putting word to paper, I was making things that would last and be useful to someone. But, I also had a mortgage, wife and a college degree that was getting dusty. So along came magazine editing.
I worked for 5 years editing/writing/designing several magazines/marketing tools/kids newspaper for a state Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Agency. Money was good and they took a LOAD of holidays and had potlucks at the drop of a hat, but I also hated wearing a tie and being in an office. While everyone else was talking about their shopping or health club membership, I was always immersed in my first love of cars. I'd go into meetings with grease-stained fingers and stubby fingernails.
Thank goodness for a new, totally NUTS executive director who caused me to chuck it all and walk out. A short stint at a state Association doing pretty much the same thing thankfully ended when the director was embezzling money and got me ousted in the process (no, I wasn't involved. He just needed to clean house).
Then the fun started. Two weeks sitting around and I answered an ad in our paper for "local British auto restoration shop needing mechanic. Apprentice considered." I was the only applicant with a resume and dress shoes when I went for the interview. I even called the boss and told him I'd gladly work for half my (association salary) pay to get the job. The first day, he pulled down a 1953 MG TD that was a national concourse show winner and told me to tear apart the front end. Holy COW I was hooked, and decided I'd never stray away from playing with cars again.
During the two years doing building Jags, MGs and whatnot (got a 1936 Riley Saloon running on it's own power before I left) there was an upholsterer renting space in the building. Eventually he couldn't pay the rent and was supposed to be doing work for the boss. One day, he just walked out. Took his sewing machine and tools, said he was retired, and left. Everything sat idle for a couple months with three cars up in the shop needing to be finished.
Long story short, PRO Stitch was created to finish the cars, and I've never looked back going on 11 years in the business. Love the sewing and love the cars each and every day.