My son just graduated high school and is going to start his apprenticeship as an electrician this summer. That being said, he's a smart kid, hard worker and great with people and would like to also have a side-business so I thought I'd put this out for some ideas from those with good experience on what to do (or not to do). He's been mowing lawns since he was in 7th grade so a lawn business would be a gimme-put but he's open to anything that would make him good $$. He can replace toilets, faucets, light fixtures, etc. already and has all of his own power tools, a paid off 2002 Dodge Ram 1500 with only 63k miles on it, a small utility trailer (5x8) and some seed money for startup/equipment ($5K-$7K) so if there's a side-business that makes good $$, I'm sure he'd be all ears. So, if you were in his shoes and doing it all over, what would you recommend??

How much would you take for him? He sounds like a we’ll grounded young man!!

If he is going to be an electrician, that would be the way to go as a side business, maybe his own business later on. There will be electricians doing side work at his job. Maybe he can help them for extra money and experience.

HVAC. Needed seasonally but two seasons a year.

Agree if he’s gonna be an electrician.
Get a side hussle doing the same thing.
Maybe approach home builders to see if they would hire his services for new home construction or even home remodels.
This can be lucrative as I have a hardwood flooring business myself and I make 1/4 of my yearly profits in side jobs alone.

Finish apprenticeship. Save every dime. Start own business.

+1

Start studying Hungarian.

He better be careful owning a business or talking about owning his own business in the electrical field . Many business owners won't hire a person who's '' starting their own business '' because they feel like he's scoping things out and will be in competition against the owner soonish .
The construction industry sucks too much fluxuation in the economy , highs and lows .

I'm not up on ''the new big thing'' these days but I know two people who got into the Trucking industry [separately] and are hugely millionaires . Learn to drive , get own truck , find honest hard working driver hire him/buy another truck . Repeat . Trucking industry is always growing .

He will have to get journeyman license, then masters to start his own business, in Texas an electrical contractor’s license too, I think. For plumbers it’s a responsible masters license. You have to have proof of insurance to obtain the responsible masters license. Most of the electricians where I work do side work. A couple have quit when they got enough to go full time.

Yup. Take on as much work and study as much as he can. Become proficient as he can at all the new media/communication technologies being prewired into residential/commercial construction as well as solar.

Handyman around here will scarcely return phone calls. If he can do carpentry work, he’d be booked for a solid year ahead right now. Anyone doing such work who is not making a profit in these times, should get the hell out of business immediately.

FC

A guy I know makes as much on Saturdays pressure washing houses as he makes all week at his factory job. Course that's only in the spring/summer months but very little equipment expense involved.

Good advice. First things first.

Young guy I know who did an electrical apprenticeship started a side gig doing residential back up generator installations.

Once finished with apprenticeship, find a job and work by word of mouth until he can go independent. Look at what the market needs and then GROW into it.

Entrepreneurship is what pays. Do what you say you will do. Do it when you say you will do it. Charge what you say you will. Call customers immediately if something interferes with the plan.

Sounds like a bright future to me. Stay humble.

Mexican labor is key. Learn to speaky espanol.

I spent my life in the skilled trades. Every place I worked the electrical techs were most in demand and made good money.

Also, if you're a certified electrical tech, you don't necessarily have to spend your life working in some noisy, dirty factory like toolmakers do. One electrical tech I know spent years working for the local newspaper keeping the presses maintained. He made good money and worked in a comparatively nice environment compared to most factories. There's other examples.

The curriculum for industrial electrical technology is a fairly serious study. I looked into it a couple of times. You've got to work at it to get through it. But if you get your certification you won't have to worry about getting a good paying job,..and you can get one about anywhere in the country.

If I was starting out again in the construction field, I would go electrical, get my training, and specialize in low voltage. With computers, communications, video, security, controls, etc. requiring install and maintenance you always have work for the life of a building, not just the construction phase. It is also cleaner and safer than the high voltage stuff.
The last place I would want to end up would be in residential construction competing with the wetbacks.

I would schit can the side business idea.

+2 but with the caveat of being prepared for a housing/building market slow down and have a plan B.

But yes, save every penny, have an open mind and not be afraid to take risks before you start a family. If it happens, failure can be one of the best teachers and motivators for success a young person (any person for that matter) can have if they learn to stuff their egos in the back pocket and break things down based on logic, not emotion. Success is great but can only be sustained if you don't let it go to your head and screw it up.

I've had several failed ventures/ideas, nothing to write home about but I learned more from those events than I would have from any book or class that have helped me through the years to make better decisions.

Also, many successful people I've known weren't all the sharpest pencils in the box. What they did have was tenacity. They just didn't give up. They did the grind and if they couldn't figure how to get something done, they'd hire someone who could. Again that ego thing.

And one more thing to learn: understand and have appreciation for what you want vs. what you need.

One place I worked for many years, the electrical techs could put in as much overtime as they could stand. Time and a half past 40 hours, double time on Sunday.

They didn't need a side job.

First things first.

Work as bloody hard as you can. Several jobs. Save every thing.

Do NOT treat yourself to ANYTHING.

Do not start a family.



Then when he is old and worn out....and alone...he can kick back and enjoy life a little.

The American dream!

Oh and keep the idea of branching out on his own to himself. Regardless of what he wants to do.

His first priority is to learn his trade as best as he can. He needs to decide if he's going to be a residential electrician or a Commercial electrican. Develop a side hustle around that. Every young man needs a side hustle, especially while he's young. That's where he'll really learn the trade. Maybe work commercial and do residential as a side hustle. Take that into being a handy man, add plumbing and other skills. A GOOD handyman is very much in demand. Bring along another guy or two teaching them the trade and grow the business. Treat them fair, pay them well and make them want to stay with him. Grow the business. He will become an entrepreneur before he knows it.

I've got a brother in law that was a lineman. He isn't worth shooting. If he was I'm sure his wife would have shot him long before now. He's so focused on one very small part of the business, he can't change a light in his own house. He isn't capable of doing anything but that one nitch job. How valuable is he??? He isn't!!! He isn't well round or willing to learn anything. Blind spots will get you run over.

I've never seen an apprenticeship that left a young man enough time or energy to run a side gig, if he has time to burn he has time to double done on classes.

Always a good idea for an electrician to be well grounded.

I been in I.T. The past 40+ years while my skill set had to change many times there are 3 areas we have needed the entire time.

First, every data center, computer room, etc. needs cooling and we keep our HVAC vendor busy 365 days a year and that’s not changing any time soon.

Second, electrical and UPS service is also a constant need, cannot run computers with out it.

Last is a newer item but electric related Solar Systems. When you talk solar most think home use but the company I work for has spent well over10 millions dollars on Solar systems at our call centers making enough power to support thousands of desktops and other equipment every day. Even after installation some one needs to maintain these high priced systems.

While programming and other technical duties continue to go to remote over seas outfits these 3 areas will be needed in the USA.

Agree. Get in as many hours as he can doing electrical stuff to get through the electrical program as fast as possible. Take every hour they give you.

Along the way pick as many tools as you can and make connections with those that might need his services someday. Lay the ground work for starting his own business once he is licensed and a journeyman.

He picked a great trade to get into. Sounds like a great kid! Good on you for setting him up right.

Yep, he has many years to go before he can legally take off on his own, moonlighting side jobs prior to being licensed to do so can cost him what ever stage of license he has at the time.

Chase the money, don't get regionally bound. The traveling industrial electrical teams is where the money is at..7/12's are a minimum be prepared for more. Journeyman's, Masters, Administrator's license are based on hours, they come more quickly when you are doing 100 hour plus weeks.

The best way not to get stuck in the rut of drilling holes in 2x4's and roping residential is to never start it...

If I were 18 again, I'd not be married. I would dispel any notion of doing that!

I wouldn't recommend a thing -- you've already got him on the track to figure it out himself. WAY better than waiting on someone else's ideas. 2 cents here.

Thought I posted this earlier. Rodeo harder, make it to the NFR.

I'd start here

Wish I was 18 and knew what I know now.

Pay myself first...

Great minds and all that.

First thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. I'd chase A LOT more wimmins. And probably catch a lot more too.

Geno

PS, I prefer brunettes and redheads, though blondies would work.

What I know now that would be lost on the list.
Good grief, probably have a 95% chance of getting a divorce then here having 50% of everything you ever make the rest of your life.
That don’t sound fun.....oh maybe for the first few years but after that’s over.....nah.

If you want to chase women, learn to dance. He will have to beat the women off with a stick. Wifey has told me I never would have gotten the time of day if it wasn’t for that. She looked as good as the girl in the pic when I met her.


A good woman can help a guy go into business with a good job to help pick up the slack in the lean times, carry health insurance etc.

Nebraska, I wish the boy good luck and a productive career.

Personally, having worked some construction in the early days and having brothers who are still in it, I'd recommend getting the journeyman card and looking for a (sensitive folks cover their ears) government type job.

My next youngest brother want through carpenter's apprenticeship in SoCal many years ago, got married, started having kids, then the whole industry down there went non-union low wage immigrant workers. Now, his only retirement is basically Social Security. The vagaries of the construction industry didn't leave much left over for a guy living in SoCal with two kids, and getting laid off semi regular, to invest in any kind of retirement fund. And of course, he wanted to stay around his kids, even after the divorce.

My youngest brother went a different route. Electrical journeyman, worked for a few larger outfits, saw the writing on the wall about layoffs, got his contractors license so he could do side jobs, then he got a job at the local University. He's pretty well set, has a place across the river in AZ, sold their place to the daughter and son in law, lving in an RV park for year or two more while the wife is over in AZ, goes there on weekends. Has a good retirement and can still do electrical jobs if needed.

My old man did the same sort of thing. Machinist in the ship yards in SoCal, tired of getting laid off every year or two, went to work at the University, good insurance and retirement, was able to leave mom in good financial shape when he passed.

Me, when I got out of the University I considered working for a few private companies, but ended up working for .gov. Glad I did too, even with having to deal with the asshats there and the red tape etc. I had decent insurance (certainly not platinum level) and I ended up with a decent retirement because I put every extra dollar into the .gov version of a 401K (No guaranteed retirement pension where I worked, one had to invest if one wanted a decent balance at the end, just like in the private world)

Again, I wish the kid luck. Don't know where you live, but a good electrician can make a really decent living working at BPA, Fed, or other hydro powerplants, and likely at the non-hydro ones. And the writing is on the wall as old willys put it, solar and wind aren't going anywhere soon. Learn that stuff and likely he'll do alright.

Geno

Hey, I got this, take him out behind the wood shed & cut his nuts off!!!!!!!!!!! He'll be president of General Motors in no time!!!!!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$ seriously. Bill out. 🐾👣🐾👣🇨🇦

Who said anything about marriage and divorce?

Geno

tell him not to get greedy and hung up sideways with the compassionate irs.

that misdirection can wreck a career, family, or business in no time.

so, whatever he does, please advise him to pay his taxes.

he can spend the remainder anyway he so chooses.

I would study Statistics and Calculus and become the smartest guy there was at it, then I would go to work on Wall Street, and rip their balls off (not "rob them") and destroy them.

What about getting her pregnant???

Don't be silly,

Wrap your Willie!

Geno

A young man has to have pussy. Hand jiving gets old. Wrap it and stab it!!!

I wouldn't have married the big nosed commie bitch!

I still had four years of US Navy ahead of me.

I bought a hay processor when I was 18.

I bought some shoes from a drug dealer.
I don't know what he laced them with -
but I've been tripping all day.

Heheheh...

That’s funny

Though I dearly love my Number 3, and the kids I planted in Number 2, I would stay single, at all costs.

Start wiring residential, at some point he'll get a taste of commercial and never go back. Take the classes, get the licences. Options will come along like low voltage or hvac, he can make that call later. Most contractors figure a good apprentice will strike out on their own at some point, they did themselves. If he wants his own operation he better take some business classes or marry an accountant. He'll also need to build a relationship with a bank so he's not working out of his pocket, a good insurance agent and a lawyer that optimally know a little something about contracting.

JFC. I bet you jerk off into a rubber.

Only working low amperage

Some good ideas but I'll add to the list a little giving an example and telling what he has done.

I think the field he specializes in is moot other than one he likes but get training for sure

Neighbor kid, 24, went to school for automobile mechanics and I forget what but he went to another for larger machinery too.

His dad passed away when he was young. Has brothers and sisters but he stayed at home and still does.
He plays, plays hard, but no tobacco, no alcohol.........and out and about, mud bogging etc.
Single
Worked for a semi truck shop for about a year but kept his eyes open. Soon a company was looking for a mechanic to be on call. Whatever they run they have small buildings of running machinery that he checks on but, if one has some kind of error it messages him on his iphone. He has regular hours but its not a full time, 40 hours a week other than when something big is going on.

On the side, "for fun" he repairs...........everything. Mowers, tractors, cars, four wheelers etc.
He has a four wheel drive F150 but fixed up a diesel foreign car that gets over 50 mpg for his "work vehicle".

Kid could buy my 4 bedroom ranch, 3.6 acres .....cash.

Works, saves his money, single............key factors.
Marriage is ONLY if he knows she will stick. So many see greener pastures and ZIP..........there goes half ( at least) what you busted your hump for...........how well I know.

Have a family........after age 30. Seriously. Work up to then and get ahead FIRST.

Being HANDY.......oh man. Get his papers to work in his field, stick with it and start buying homes to fix up. Keep some of them.
Another guy I know, no schooling, just worked alot and didnt go out partying and stayed single. Bought rental property. Started small.
Financed the first couple, put the money from them into others till he could keep one or two.
He now has 18, hasnt worked for 20 years.

Just some insight on other's who have done ok.

God Bless

Good grief.
The guy asks for advice on his sons future and I give him what I think is pretty solid advice to get a career started without going into debt and I get this?
I’ve seen way to many young guys that have a promising future blow it on a pretty woman.
Not saying that all pretty women will get you in trouble but it can happen even with ugly ones.
I’d get my head screwed on tight with my career/business first then look for a relationship that’s all I’m saying.

Thanks, grandma.

lol !!!!

This too

Tom gonna give us all a lecture about going blind.

It sounds to me that you have already given him the necessary tools as a father for him to start a good life and career, why ruin that with a bunch of poor advice from a forum like the Campfire?

Get an education in running a business and handling employes. without it you are doomed to failure..

Poor advice from the 'fire? No way.

Marry a stripper.

Thanks for the thoughtful advice......looks like it started strong but is fading fast!

Main thing is to take it one step at a time, make a plan, stick with the plan, learn all you can about the trade chosen. I’m glad he didn’t decide to be a damn plumber.

General contractor then a developer.

I did all the responsible stuff .... Wish I'd nailed my sisters best friend back then .

I would buy a ruger 44mag carbine semi-auto.

It would be fun if you had a bunch of pigs caught in a pen. Not as much as an AR, but close!

You’re welcome azzwipe.

Be sure to include that comment in your next confession.

I don’t do confession stupid.
That’s a Catholic shenanigan.

once in a while, you're right!

Some day I will find one...

Once in awhile I am right, but you are always left...

Lots of career advice from people who hate their jobs and live for retirement. Why be a drone, there are plenty of ways to prepare your self to live the life you choose and have freedom, mobility and adventure while you are still young enough to enjoy it.

Most of us needed to work but sacrificing the joy of life and new experiences for a paycheck is just poor planning and lack of imagination.

Don't marry the stripper, rent her.


mike r

I posted much the same thing earlier in the thread.


This work/sacrifice cycle that everyone has themselves in is the acme of foolishness.


Live while you are young. It only gets worse!

There's varied forms of Protestant "confession". If you're of one of those Disciplines.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Protestants+and+confession&t=ffsb&ia=web

And the spiritual benefits of "confessing" exist in other "religions" I've been told by practitioners of same.

Geno

Skip the whole "learn a trade, work hard, start your own business" thing. Learn to manage people. Hire skilled people that can do your sh i t for you so you can take prospective clients to the stripper club for lunch. Grease the wheels with the local politicians, buy insider tips on upcoming govt contracts and squash the competition with smear and strong-arm tactics. Contribute to the elderly negro college fund and make sure you hire the press to cover it. If you're really ambitious insure all your sh i t and burn it down. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Well hell, that’s where I went wrong, even worse, I became a damn plumber

I like renting the stripper advice,

Here is the one I want

My bad I thought you claimed to be a Christian.

if you have a rich father, ask him to give you a division of his 10 million dollar business.

it'd be a 1 million dollar division to grow and develop and live off of.

in case it fails, and it might, take your experience and go forward.

Just proves how little you know about “religion”
Again.....stupid.

And a vasectomy.

Catholics aren’t Christians?

What are they?

How can I put this???

I AM NOT CATHOLIC!!!!!!

That better stupid?

I was just curious because you got so mad at me about it.

I’m just asking if Catholics are Christians too.

Not to some of the ‘holier’ christians here...........

Yep, they're a Cult.

They just started early in the first century of the modern era, right?

Geno

They claim to be the original Christians but it’s evident since they don’t follow any of the original Bible then they are in my opinion not Christians.
And my reply was because I do not need to confess any of my sins to any man on this earth at all....period!

I travelled a lot between work and school during my twenties. I'm really glad I got to see some of the world and make some good memories while I was young and healthy. Balance is just as important when you're young. Work hard, learn lots, and play some while you're young and healthy.

Even if you go the trade route I think it's still good to take a few university classes. Some business classes are usually a good choice.

Bb

Ok.

You don’t think Catholics are Christians. That’s all I was asking. Calm the fugk down already.

Told you so.............

This is all so confusing.

Somebody need to get Reverend Raider in on this.

What color was it?



John