[TheSrProgrammer]

Hello All,

As many can tell by my name, I'm not a professional in any of the DIY topics - I write code and perform statistical analysis for clinical trials. But I'm generally very interested in many of the trade topics and would welcome the option to change professions if only I had an idea how to realistically make that feasible.

So I'm throwing some questions out there for the community:
1. Has anyone made the jump from DIY to professional? What's your story?
2. How can one overcome the knowledge and inexperience gaps?
3. When/How does one know they can transition from DIY to professional?
4. Is it advisable to start out in the industry working for someone else and then transition from there into doing it solo?

I have the desire, but there are many gaps in my knowledge of building and material science and experience that I would want to have as a mold remediator. Yes - I know that's a strange dream job, but I really have interest in it and believe there is need for that kind of service by an honest, hard-working person in my area. I just know that my knowledge and experience in it pales in comparison to the experience I have in the pharmaceutical industry. This results in a lack confidence that I could go out there and start ripping out peoples walls, carpets, treat the mold, etc. as a professional. I feel like I should know so much more and have experience before doing something like that. But how can I know so much more and get experience without first becoming a professional? The notion that I have to have experience to do it in the first place is crippling to my desire to start something up. Everybody has to start somewhere at a low level of experience, but I just don't know how to do that without feeling like a fraud.

:wallbash:

-TheSrProgrammer

 

[Gymschu]

" Is it advisable to start out in the industry working for someone else and then transition from there into doing it solo?"

^^^^^^This.

I spent many years as my dad's helper in the painting business before branching out on my own. It sounds like you will be a quick learner with the industry you are targeting. The biggest challenge is the business end. Taxes, licensing fees, certification permits, employee paperwork, finding a building in which to operate, those are the kind of things that take up a lot of time and can be difficult to deal with.

P.S. You'll never be 100% ready to dive in on your own. As long as you can humble yourself and respond to a client's question that you are unsure about with: "I'm not exactly sure about that, but I will find out and get back to you."

 

[Oso954]

I think the area you live in has a lot to do with it. Some areas have a lot of regulation and specialized companies. Other areas it is treated less stringently and is primarily performed by the water damage, fire damage type businesses.

Besides knowing the technical aspects the trade, the insider view of the industry and marketplace is really important. How you are going to market yourself and to whom is really important.

If everyone is required to be certified in the work, how can you find temporary help when you need it, if you have never worked in the field ?

Opening a business is one thing. Running it successfully and staying in business is another. Trying to stay in business without having previous experience in the field, is something that very, very few people have ever done.

Even for people who have worked in the field are not always successful in opening their own business. If they don't have prior business experience, they find out there is a lot more to it than printing up business cards. Some people can succeed at it. Others cannot.

 

[TheSrProgrammer]

" Is it advisable to start out in the industry working for someone else and then transition from there into doing it solo?"

^^^^^^This.

I spent many years as my dad's helper in the painting business before branching out on my own. It sounds like you will be a quick learner with the industry you are targeting. The biggest challenge is the business end. Taxes, licensing fees, certification permits, employee paperwork, finding a building in which to operate, those are the kind of things that take up a lot of time and can be difficult to deal with.

P.S. You'll never be 100% ready to dive in on your own. As long as you can humble yourself and respond to a client's question that you are unsure about with: "I'm not exactly sure about that, but I will find out and get back to you."

Thank you for your experience and advice.

As far as the business end goes, I know how much that can be a pain. Fortunately, I have a ton of free help on that side with nearly everyone in my family running their own business. I'm one of the only ones that went out there and took up a corporate job. It wasn't necessarily by choice though... I was pressured to finish college and get a "better" job for myself. Ironically, the people in my family who own their own business do far better than I do financially, and I'm not doing all that bad in corporate as the lead of a department at 30 years old. Corporate just has limitations on how much money you can make no matter how hard you work or how good you are. With as hard as I work and with as many bills as I have, it is extremely frustrating.

Oh, and the advice on responding that I don't know - that's definitely good advice. Though I don't think I'll have a problem with that. I think it's that kind of honesty within myself that causes me to lack confidence. I have friends who work in the trades who admit all the time they YouTube stuff to get through parts of jobs they don't know how to do. They see absolutely nothing abnormal about that. To me, that sounds ridiculous. I can't imagine it is wise to go out there and start modifying somebody's home and basically wing it like that. What if you make a mistake? How the heck do you explain that as a professional?

I will say that I do work in extremely high stakes now. If I mess up in my job, the wrong information may go to the FDA. That's all sorts of bad with millions of dollars on the line and people's lives hanging in the balance who depend on getting the right treatments put on the market. For whatever reason that risk is something I'm more or less comfortable with. I'm pretty confident in my skill set there and have gotten used to that pressure. I don't know how I'd fair with that pressure in a construction/trade when my confidence is low, however. The fear of messing up is crippling to me.

As a back story, when I was perhaps 6 or 7 years old I was scared to death to use the computer. I was afraid it would get a virus or that I would accidentally delete all the information and "break" the computer. I was so crippled by that fear that I had a hard time even playing solitaire on the computer for fear it would result in that kind of problem. I just had this image in my head of my mom or sister getting on the computer and saying, "What did you do?! The computer is broken!" I told my mom this and she said, "Look, if you break the computer, I will buy a new one. I want you to go in there and use it as much as possible and get over this fear of yours. Now go, and don't ever be afraid again." I never feared using the computer again. But I ultimately fear working around the house or doing this kind of work much in the same way as I feared using a computer as a kid. It's incredibly irrational in many ways, but I fear messing up and having the result be something that's either really difficult to reverse (costing time, money, or both) or accept (accepting failure has always been difficult for me, and I tend to avoid taking chances if the odds aren't in my favor - though sometimes the things we want or are even best for us aren't necessarily the things that have the best odds - playing it safe isn't always the best answer).

Hmmm...

-TheSrProgrammer

 

[TheSrProgrammer]

I think the area you live in has a lot to do with it. Some areas have a lot of regulation and specialized companies. Other areas it is treated less stringently and is primarily performed by the water damage, fire damage type businesses.

Besides knowing the technical aspects the trade, the insider view of the industry and marketplace is really important. How you are going to market yourself and to whom is really important.

If everyone is required to be certified in the work, how can you find temporary help when you need it, if you have never worked in the field ?

Opening a business is one thing. Running it successfully and staying in business is another. Trying to stay in business without having previous experience in the field, is something that very, very few people have ever done.

Even for people who have worked in the field are not always successful in opening their own business. If they don't have prior business experience, they find out there is a lot more to it than printing up business cards. Some people can succeed at it. Others cannot.

Regulation in the mold remediation industry is quite low (FL and TX being exceptions) and has virtually no regulation in the state of PA. However, you need to be certified in water damage restoration and mold remediation in some way if you're to ever get insurance companies to use you. With that said, many insurance policies don't cover mold claims, so many customers are paying out of pocket and the insurance company isn't involved.

-TheSrProgrammer

 

[Gymschu]

SrProgrammer, it is refreshing to see someone with such a positive and HONEST attitude. You will have no problems being successful.

After 37 years in the painting business, I see young bucks jump into the "bucket" looking for the Benjamins and not looking to build a solid, successful business. They do great for a year or two but soon flameout quickly afterward........they are the type that collect lots of up front payments then they either do not show up to do the job or they never finish the job, thus dooming themselves to failure.

I know one thing for sure........clients, or potential clients want to know that you will be around for awhile, that you are not a "fly-by-night" operation, that they can call you in a week, a month, or a year with a question or problem and you will respond.

 

[TheSrProgrammer]

SrProgrammer, it is refreshing to see someone with such a positive and HONEST attitude. You will have no problems being successful.

After 37 years in the painting business, I see young bucks jump into the "bucket" looking for the Benjamins and not looking to build a solid, successful business. They do great for a year or two but soon flameout quickly afterward........they are the type that collect lots of up front payments then they either do not show up to do the job or they never finish the job, thus dooming themselves to failure.

I know one thing for sure........clients, or potential clients want to know that you will be around for awhile, that you are not a "fly-by-night" operation, that they can call you in a week, a month, or a year with a question or problem and you will respond.

Thank you for the kind words. I just want to do a really good job. It's obviously not about the prestige for me. This is about proving to myself that I can do it and build something better for my family. I have two boys growing up fast, and I'd love to have something to hand over to them for when they get of age (they're 10 and 6).

Despite what many seem to think, the life of corporate is overrated. You ARE the asset, but you don't even have ownership in the work you produce. If you leave the company, you get nothing. You have nothing to sell, you have nothing to give to somebody else, and basically nothing you individually do is yours. Your pay is predetermined and often a salary, so there's no incentive to work harder except that you better do so if you want to do a good job. Raises, bonuses, and promotions are often paltry compared to what you could make doing an extra job or two a year in a business you own - they are hardly worth writing home about. And opportunities sometimes take years to really come up, often when the company has little choice because somebody else left or when they feel threatened that you are going to leave. At the end of the day, most corporate jobs provide just enough pay, vacation, and position to keep you indifferent about making an effort elsewhere. And a hard life of indifference is hardly the life for me.

-TheSrProgrammer

 

[Mort]

Thank you for restoring some of my faith in humanity. I say "some" because look who we have running for president...

I've seen a lot of posts from people on here that "built a deck by themselves" and "are really handy" and suddenly they're ready to be contractors. I just want to slap them and ask them if they've lost their minds.

You seem to have a good handle on it. As long as you realize that you're getting in on the bottom floor, and it will take years, not weeks, to get to the top, you're already ahead of the curve. Biggest things with contractors is showing up on time, good attitude, and willingness to learn. When I started with the excavator I work for, I'd never even sat in a backhoe. I can now run everything he has with varying degrees of competence. I don't know everything but I'm easy to work with and a quick learner. In construction that's worth it's weight in gold.