Dealing with potential income loss in the skilled trades
I was a cog in a wheel for as long as I could remember.
Policing- cog.
Navy- cog.
Insert series of other less notable jobs but nonetheless part of my history- cog.
And there was some benefit to being a cog in a wheel. If you call in sick, another cog will keep things rolling, and it’s possible that you will still get paid for some of that sick time off.
But all that changed when I left my final cog career and became the sole proprietor of my remodelling business, SPEC3 Properties Inc. I am now the only cog and the only wheel. And what that means, is when I don’t work, I don’t get paid. When I am sick, work stops. And without me, there simply is no business.
I am the business.
As skilled trades, we know that statistically we are at high risk to become injured, sick, or disabled while performing our jobs and yet, we continue to accept that if we can no longer do our work, we will cease to be able to earn income. Why are we ok with that?
For that matter, why are we ok with the fact any time we need to earn extra money, we have to take side jobs doing the same kind of demanding work, making it almost impossible to recover physically or mentally? In jobs which are already demanding enough, why is there no other way for us to monetize our skills? Of course there is….but it requires a mindset shift previously reserved for white collar masters of the universe who believe that they are worth what they get paid. We need to learn to think that way.
Information is the new currency
If you have been building decks for many years, why do you believe that the only value you have is in the actual execution of building the deck? Because that's what we are used to. But I can promise you, as many jobs as I have done, I have done an equal amount of phone consults for unfolding situations, house visits where the homeowners were just looking to extract information, and quotes which were basically used as materials list for the client.
Why do people behave like this? I don’t think I have ever asked my financial planner for a freebee, or my vet for that matter. In fact, when I go to the vet, I expect to pay for their time to consult and diagnose, even if the result is that nothing is to be done. I’m paying for their opinion….their expertise.
And yet, in the skilled trades, people seem to think that building the deck has value, but not the design, or the vision, or the information on how to execute that project. Well I’m here to tell you, that not only is our information valuable, but we all need to learn to monetize that information and create a secondary stream of income for ourselves.
In an inflationary economy, more and more people want to DIY, but don’t have the skills and support to execute. What if you were able to offer your advice in planning, or materials or even to assist of the homeowner got stuck with an issue on their project? If they could continue that job at a fraction of the cost, and you got paid for your advice, does that not sound like a good deal?
It’s not just a good deal, it’s income protection.
This blog post is my love letter to The Project Garage. I created this business to give people in the skilled trades a genuine opportunity to:
Expand their market reach
Find alternative work in down times
Top up their benefits when they are unable to work or get laid off
Share their advice and information as a way to expand their physical business
Collaborate with other tradespeople from across the country to share information and potential job opportunities
To allow tradespeople seek out mentors or other tradespeople of similar backgrounds, language profiles and gender identities
To help tradespeople monetize their information without sacrificing more of their physical health
So if you don’t have a plan B, or if you are looking for opportunities to increase your business in a different way, reach out to us at The Project Garage. We are looking for pros of all kinds to help us build this business, and create a better, more lucrative life which we all deserve.
Careers in the skilled trades are already amazing, but we can make them better.
© Stephanie Paraskevopulos 2023
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