Throwing off the CHAINS ... (Shoot me where I stand lol)

[T.he I.nvisible M.an]

I've been self-employed for over 30 now myself.

Wha'd you do for a living??

I own and operate my own vehicle customizing, graphics, and sign shop.


oh, and living in a small coastal town, I too am working on towards having a full time on-line business myself, and getting away from relying on just the locals for my customer base.

I am probably the most over qualified Handyman in the area ... lol. In reality I am a professional hands on builder. I prefer (or use to prefer) new construction over remodeling. If I get off my @ss and finish my testing I qualify an Architectural Seal (on part 4 of 7 of the ARE). So I am Architect, who is a Developer, who is a Builder, who is a Handyman ... lol.

"Have tools will travel". Need that light bulb screwed in ***POOF!*** (I'm there).
Have some "something" where the instructions for assembly look like it's written in Chinese? ... check.
The list of what I'm able to do with my hands is extensive the same goes for my other "skills".

As a younger man I built a few thousand shells as a Framing Carpenter (so yea I'm fairly hard core construction).
In good times (in the past anyway) I'm the guy building shopping centers, office buildings, large custom homes.

In the past 37 years I have managed to pick up all the other trades.

I use to race cars as a kid (so yea I am a fairly decent mechanic at this point).

I'm a computer nerd since 1983. (the government probably still looks for me or my old online friends from the I.R.C days and B.B.S before that). I was online and remember when this "thing" called the World Wide Web was born.

A gamer since before video games came around. (Pinball machines, pool/billiards, air hockey, foosball). I have spend many an hour gaming since those days all the way to present.

Now I like what I'm doing because I can operate solo.
I like to get paid in cash (sometimes I offer a discount as an enticement).
Many times I get paid in cash without asking.
I get paid daily or at the end of each project if it less than a day.
I never get bored having to do repeating tasks for days/weeks/months/years on end.
If I don't like my employer "The client" I can suck it up unit my task(s) are complete.
If I like my employer "The client" I can lower my price unexpectedly (on the fly) to obtain additional work.
If I don't like the potential work, or the potential client, I can raise my price or simply refuse to take on the project.
If I want a day off, I have no commitment to a daily grind.
I have no office to attend to daily.
No employees to worry about.
I can sleep in as I choose (Sunday can be every day).

That being said ...

What I do is also no "picnic".
You better know what your doing if you going to repair anything and if it's cost feasible or not.
You need to know how to pick your customers or be lightning fast and most excellent at what you do if not.
If the project drags or the client thinks they are paying too much the "fangs" will come out.
Certain ethnic groups have a tendency to "carve" on you as you are going along.
Many ethnic groups will bargain up front to the point of being ridiculous then bargain at the end as well.
In doing many small jobs per day the driving can be extreme.
Larger jobs risk customer "fatigue".
Bad weather can limit or end outside work cutting your potential by half (middle of winter, storms, etc.).
You risk not getting paid if the client runs out of money.
You are constantly maintaining your "tools" as well as your vehicle.
Marketing is an Art and the slightest thing can add 2x or take away 2x from incoming calls (leads). (To the point of being ridiculous)
Sales is an Art and ditto for closing or not closing a job.
If  you don't have Sales and Marketing honed to fine edge you are forced to take what you can get (desirable or not).
It takes some time to get "dialed in" to any local situation.
If you screw something up you will need to fix it at your own expense (time at the minimum plus material worst case).
The higher end the material is the greater the risk and the need to charge accordingly in case of what was stated in the previous line (Think installing a 5k door slab and the need to route the hinges, drill out the lock sets, Cut off the bottom or possibly cut down 1 or both sides).
And of course there is insurance, Workmans Compensation, Liability and Vehicle just to name a few.
Licensing is also part of the equation.

So there is a fairly long list of pluses and minus I am sure I could add substantially to both lists lol.

And now you know ...

T.I.M.

 

[T.he I.nvisible M.an]

I am ... HANDYMAN! ... Faster than yo mama can say HOLY COW! ... Up Up and away! (climbs an aluminum ladder to get to the roof) ... Can leap a tall building in a single ... ah ... hmm (well maybe not THAT yet lol) ...

While strolling on a well worn city sidewalk HANDYMAN hears a cry for HELP! ... "Help me, Help me" ... "My faucet's leaking and ruining my Kitchen and I can't make it stop" ... In a flash HANDYMAN dashes to his nearby Black Swat Van, Opens the door, and Jumps inside. Now that his true identity is secure he tears the triple sweatshirt/hoodies (XL , 2xx, 3xxx) from his body revealing a Large blood/sweat stained "H" on his black T-shirt. With work boots laced up HANDYMAN races to save the day ...

And now you know ...

T.I.M.

(From his ultra secret and mobile hide out, located somewhere in metropolis, using his super sonic hearing aid, HANDYMAN hears ALL the cries for help coming from across the planet).

"HANDYMAN HELP ME! My Son just flushed Dads socks down the toilet and now it overflows and won't stop!"

"Biffy ate my house key and now I'm locked out. HANDYMAN come quick as It's cold, wet and dark outside"

"HANDYMAN, Lightning hit my house and now NOTHING works. Please help me! I am cold and afraid of the dark"

..... and so ends another day where there is just no way that everything can be done  ...

(and then again ... "winks")

 

[Queen]

Here's the link: http://plustek.com/usa/products/opticbook-series/

The 3800 is closest to the one I have. Yes, it costs more than most scanners, but it is worth it for the features. I got to where I could scan 200 pages of a book in an hour. I converted them to .PDF then did OCR so I can search for text within them. Now my entire library and all my documents fit on my laptop. If you want to know more, we can start a separate thread.


And here's a picture:

See how the book lies over the corner, so it can scan almost up to the binding and the page is perfectly flat.

Only one I've ever used is one like this... but I worked at a major academic library.