Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / Journey into the Trades: Ginger Martin’s Inspiring Path

Transcript

Journey into the Trades: Ginger Martin’s Inspiring Path · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Well, good morning everybody. Happy New Year. Here listening to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: the Repcolite Home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore. And
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I know, I know, I know, we're a couple of
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: weeks into the new year, but this is my first
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: time back really for the new year, and I want
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to make sure I cover all of the pleasantries appropriately
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and adequately. So happy New Year. I hope everybody had
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a great Christmas. All of that all right on the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: show today, I'm really excited, super pumped. I've got an
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: interview that I'm going to play about a month or
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: so ago, something like that. I was contacted by Ginger Martin.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: She's a carpenter by trade, and she's now running an
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: online school called the Crafty Carpenter DIY Academy. We sit down,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: we have a great, big, long conversation about what it's
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: like to be a woman in the trades, how there's
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: so much value, you know, not just to the trades,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: but in learning DIY skills and getting comfortable tackling projects
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: around your home. A lot of things are covered in
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: this interview, and what I'm going to air today on
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the show is only a portion of the full thing.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Like to catch the full interview in Glorious Video. Had
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: to repcollite YouTube page and check it out. But right now,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: let's get to the interview with Ginger Martin. So your
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: dad was a carpenter and an architect.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: Well, see, my family is craftsman. I would say, way
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: back in the day. I think my dad was born
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: like nineteen twenty seven. My uncles were tilesmen, floor people, plasters.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: So my grandfather and uncle on his side were a carpenter,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: so he kind of grew up in it too. Then
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: he went to the military and decided he wanted to
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: study architecture. It's almost like the cherry on top of
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the cake if you asked me, because you already know
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: how to do carpentry, but now you learn how to
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: draw the drawings. So I guess he wants to take
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: it to the next level. He wanted to be a contractor.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I mean as far it just it was everywhere in
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: the family, I mean, everything covered, whatever you need it done,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: you had somebody who could do it. Now, my kid's
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: an electrician and that alone has been incredibly helpful. Yeah,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: so many little projects and you know I can point
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: him out, Hey, could you take care of this for me?
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Or look at it and what I'm what I really
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: find with him is he's a young, you know, apprentice,
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: he's closing in on journeyman. But what he'll do is
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: he's looking for things to fix now, so he'll bring
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: things to my attention and oh, I could do this
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: for you and get this switched around. And he'll always
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: do it, you know, he'll do it on his weekends
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: and stuff. So that's good. But I still have to
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: buy the parts.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but he loves what he's doing, and that's that's awesome.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: He loves loves demonstrating. I think one of my favorite
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: things of watching this whole thing, you know, evolve for
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: him is he loves demonstrating the knowledge that he's got.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: You know, he's the expert when it comes to this,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: and it's it's a weird shift for us because previously,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: you know, I would lead the way on whatever, and now,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, I got to take a back seat because
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: he knows what he's doing.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: It's really fun that you must be really proud. Yeah,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: I remember that stage.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so did you have you have brothers?
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: You have other Yeah, actually I'm the youngest of seven,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: so four boys and three girls, and yeah, and That's
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: kind of how I got into it because my dad
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: trained all of the boys and he became My dad
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: was a union contractor, so we moved to Michigan from
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: New Orleans when I was like five. The boys were
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: all being trained to be carpenters and the girls all
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: worked in the office.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Really, yeah, you broke them all.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: And yes, when I came up, I was like, well,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: let's see they're getting paid fifteen dollars and they're getting
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: paid seven, and yeah, I can do this. I can
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: do this. So when I think back of it, I
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: always tell people I actually was pretty cheeky because he
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: had retired by the time I came along. You know,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: all of my brothers were off on their own, different states,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: doing their own thing. And here I come out of
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: high school and say I want to be a carpenter
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: and he's like, I'm retired, and she said anymore. Yeah. Yeah.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: I told him. I said, well, you're just gonna have
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: to come out of retirement like you taught everybody else,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: like you have to teach me. I can't take no
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: for an answer, so he put a proposition. He said,
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: all right, well, what I taught your brothers in four
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: years you're going to have to learn in two years.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: So I sometimes look back and I think I should
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: have just went to college, but that because that was
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: a hard two years. He would we would come home
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: from work and he would throw project management books at
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: me and you need to read this, and oh my god,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I had to know like the weight of all the nails,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: all the nail He took me through it. When I started,
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: people didn't want me on the job because what is
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: she doing out here? That type of you know atmosphere.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: And then like two years later, I was being requested,
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: is she working? Can she come out? Ask her if
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: she wants to work on the weekend, And so.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I've it was great, that's really cool.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: And that was really cool.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: You're in a field where there's not a lot of
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: women at that point, right, there's not a lot of women.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: That was now in nineteen Actually, I think in the
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: States it's like four percent women in construction. That's pretty low.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: But when I came out there on the job, I
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: think my first union job that I was on without
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: any family member was in California and the job was
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: over a thousand men and there was four women on
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: the job and I was there was a carpenter apprentice
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: and me. So it was like two carpenters and an
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: electrician and a labor that were out there.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: But yeah, so I know that, you know, you grew
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: up with it. I know that. In the intro video
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: that I watched, you talked about being on the job
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: sites three years old and stuff. Oh yeah, yeah, so
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: a little kid and we're starting to work at seven.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: I think you said, well, your dad at seven, But no,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I was swinging the hammer using tools.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah. So I just remember always being either in
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: the office or on the job. When I was in
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: third grade, he was remodeling the church of the school
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: that I was going to, so after school I didn't
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: go home. I would go to the back of the
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: church and just help him hand him stuff, and the
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: nuns would bring me cookies or something. And so I
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: don't remember not knowing the names of tools. And sometimes
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: I would be on a job and I'd have a
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: problem and I would be thinking, now, how can I
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: do this, and it would just pop into my head.
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: And a lot of times I would think, I don't
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: even know how I know that, Like, I don't remember
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: learning that. It just came. Yeah, So when I was seven,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: my dad joked about me trying to bend a nail
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: and staying outside for hours hitting the nail, trying to
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: not bend it, straightened it. And I was trying to
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: straighten the nail. Yeah. So I always never was shy
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: about using tools or trying to fix something or make
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: something or you know. My apprenticeship it was hard because,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: like I said, he maybe do it in two years.
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: But there was so many memories from that, like I
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: just want to like women that are getting to it
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: or anybody that's getting into it, You're gonna have your mistakes.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: I glued my fingers together. Once I have fallen through
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: a second floor floor Joyce. I climbed up the ladder
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: and I stepped on the plywood because we were putting
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: the sub floor and it wasn't nailed down, and I
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: just went straight through the first floor. You, oh my god,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: I'll have well, he just we were both scared. Like
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: I landed on my feet, but it was like, oh
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: my god, how I get here? Yeah, And I like,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: I went up the ladder and damn, just like that,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: I was back on the first floorspoon. My dad used
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: to say, you always fall in a pile of and
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: come off smelling like roses.
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: See, I always fall in that pile, and I smelled
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: just like what that pile smell like. That's how I've
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: been really lucky.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: I have fallen off ladders and I've been lucky enough to
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: land on my feet every time.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna take a quick break and we'll
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: be back with more from Ginger Martin. That's just a
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: hat and stick around and we're back. You're listening to
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: the repcoll Light Home improvement show sponsored by Benjamin Moore,
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: and we're in the middle of a recent conversation I
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: had with carpenter Ginger Martin. And remember, if you like
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: what you're hearing, this is only a small portion of
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: the full interview. You can catch it all in video
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: format on the repcoal Light YouTube page. But now let's
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: get back to the conversation. When did you decide that
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: you wanted to go into the trades. I know that
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: you said after high school you talk to your dad,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: when the thought process start to solidify in your head.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: I wanted to be a figure skater.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Really, I was a figure.
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: Skater from the time I was I don't know, I
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: started skating maybe about ten or eleven or so. Yeah,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: and I started competing, and that's what I wanted to do,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: but it was I got disheartened because I had tried
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: out for the Ice Capades and they sent a letter
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: to a place where I didn't live anymore. And by
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: the time I got the letter, the recruitment part of
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: it where they were gonna send for me to go
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: out to California to train, it was already got accepted.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but you just never got the letter in exactly. Well,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: that's a kick in the stomach.
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So that Andy. By then, I was seventeen or eighteen,
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: I think, and I was just so, now what am
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I gonna do? So that was my plan, b I thought.
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: And that's like I said. I thought, Okay, time is
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: going to pass, and I thought, I can pass my
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: eight hours or ten hours a day sitting in the
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: office making seven bucks an hour, or I can do
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: this and make fifteen bucks an hour. You know, when
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: I was coming up watching my brothers at four teen
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: and fifteen, they were tearing people's houses apart and remodeling,
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: and I mean big jobs like porches and bay windows.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: And they always had money, like they always had money
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: and so that was and I always had to ask
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: them for money. Hey, give me some money. And so
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: when I got graduated high school, I thought, yeah, I
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: want I want to make the most that I can.
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: And entering the world to me was still, I guess,
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: a little scary, and I knew I didn't want to
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: go to college.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: So I just thought, you know, why didn't you want
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: to go to college.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: I just had a bad school experience the whole time.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: So I just never really liked school, and I didn't
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: you know, I think people will say, you know, well,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: college is going to be different. I didn't trust that
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: it would be, and so I just thought, I'm not
• 10:47
  Speaker 2: doing this anymore.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: So I know, I went, and I guess it helped me.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure it helped me. It didn't hurt me. Yeah,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: it cost me some money, but other than that, I
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: learned some stuff. Am I using it? I don't know.
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: I guess I'm using parts of what I've learned. So
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: I don't think it was a bad thing. It's just
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: I'm very interested. Because I've got five kids and now
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: we've got three in college. I guess I've navigated this scenario.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: But it was a big deal because it's expensive. It is,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: you know, how is this going to work? My kid,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: the electrician, I don't know that. I'd say he had
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: a bad experience in school, But what I would say
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: is that school wasn't his thing. Yeah, you know, he
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: did high school just fine, but I was wondering how
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: college was going to go. He wasn't a good organizer
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: in a sense for the school work and just getting
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: his schedule timed and doing his homework on time. And
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: I thought, oh, I don't want to go back to
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: college just to help him through college. Oh you know,
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: how's that going to go? And it just wasn't his thing.
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: And then he decided on this path, and oh my goodness,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: it's opened the eyes up of my other kids. You know.
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: I've got one who's a teacher and she's thoroughly thrilled too.
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: In college. Now both are thinking they're going to get
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: their degree in whatever, but they're going to pursue a trade.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Oh that's what they're going to do. But Caleb, my kid,
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: just sitting on this lot of money.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's ridiculous.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: And he doesn't have the dat he's this guy.
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: Exactly, you know, And you know, and Another thing is
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: that by the time I was eighteen, I think three
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: of my brothers were married and had families, and they
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: weren't taking care of their families. So it was like, yeah,
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: I could go to college, but I can also like
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: kind of get paid while I'm learning to be a carpenter.
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: And honestly, I make more money than a lot of
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: my peers that I know that have gone to college.
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: And I think a trade is if anybody, women are
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: a man or women at wants to go to a
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: through a trade, I think it's a really great thing
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: because not only are you getting pay to learn, but
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: especially if you join the union, you get benefits, you
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: get everything that you would get into like a more
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: corporate setting.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: But the money is awesome and you've got the you
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: don't have the debt and you don't yeah you've a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: mast from college. It's yeah, it's really cool. So I'm
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: wondering how many people are listening right now who are thinking, Okay,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: you know you did it, Ginger, you did it, but
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: you grew up in it. You know, this is something
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: maybe that just automatically comes natural to you. I'm not
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: mechanically inclined. I'm not good with my hands. What do
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: you think, I mean, you've got this academy. You've got
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: to believe. I would think that everybody can learn to
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: some extent.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, you start. Everybody starts somewheres. And like I said,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: even me growing up with it. When I actually went
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: into it and started, I grew my fingers together.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: I would what'd you gloom together with? What? Particularly putting
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: down the floor?
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: You know, back in the day, the floor tiles, they
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: didn't come with glue, so you have to put the
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: glue down with a trial and spread the glue and
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: then you'd put your floor tiles in and then as
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: you rolled it are the glue would come up between
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: the cracks and you wipe that out. And so that's
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: what I was doing, and I was trying to impress.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I guess I wanted to do the room by myself.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: I didn't want my dad's help, so he went outside
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: and he was doing something else, and you know, I
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: was cutting the corners and I was really proud. It
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: was coming out really good, and trying to go fast.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: When I would get glue on my fingers, I would
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: rub them together and try and you know, get the
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: little but my fingers were getting dirty, and the glue
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: was building up, and like I said, I was trying
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: to go fast. So they started kind of getting sticky.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: And then so I rubbed the dirt and to try
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: to get the glue to come off, and I don't know.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: The next thing, it was contact cement.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Oh so they're just stuck together.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So the next thing I know, now the dirt,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: the glue is seeping through the dirt, and then my
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: you know, I can't move my fingers anymore. I went
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: outside and my dad was actually working underneath the house.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: I went outside and I told him he had to
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: come out, and he was upset, you know, like he
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: was like I said, already retired. So now that I'm
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: under the house, now you want me to come out.
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: So he came out the house and I'm from under
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: the house, and I just I held my hands up
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: and he started laughing at me so hard. He was crying,
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: and I started crying because he was laughing at me.
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: And oh my god, yeah, we had to get paint,
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: dinner and everything. Just like just keep soaking my hands
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: and the whole time he was just laughing at me.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: And oh that's so funny. I did my in laws.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: I work with paint I work with coatings and stuff
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: like that. We sell deck products, and so they had
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: a deck that needed doing, and you know, it was
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: early on in the whole marriage. And I'll come over.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: I'll help you out because I'm the expert, you know.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: And I was going to be impressive too. And I
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: stained myself into a corner without realizing it. And I
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: got done and I turned around and my father in
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: law was down on the ground with his coffee looking
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: at me. He said, how are you going to get down?
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: He says, I've been watching you for an hour paint
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: yourself into that corner. I had to jump over the age.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: They had to get a ladder. They debated if they
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: were going to So, yeah, you know, you don't grow
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: up knowing how to do this stuff. Even if you
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: grow up in it right, still make mistakes. You still
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: have to learn. Everybody's going to learn. But you really
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: believe that everybody's got a shot. I do believe that, and.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: I do believe that there's more and more people who
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: are interested in learning how to do it themselves, you know.
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: But as far as learning the basics is safety first
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: with your tools and getting comfortable even here in the
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: sound of the saul, Like I think a lot of
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: people get intimidated even when they just hear the sound
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: of a saw, and just you know, working past all
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: of that and getting people comfortable using their tools. So
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: that's just kind of what I what I'm trying to do.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: And I also think as we go into the times
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: that we're in and if it gets any worse, people
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: should be familiar with how their homes are put together.
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: Your son as an electrician, he's learning more than just
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: electric electrical work. He's learning, he's learning framing. He's learning
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: because he's just around it and he's seeing it. But
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: it's important to learn how your home is put together
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: because if times get really hard and you can't afford
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: that contractor you know, things break and it's it's good
• 17:36
  Speaker 2: to know how to fix it and have that confidence
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: of of oh my goodness, even if it's just a
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: temporary fix until you call a contractor. It's good to
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: know how to you know, use your tools and apply
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: and things to your homes.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Just being comfortable with it, just picking up some things,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: you know. I think that's a huge value in what
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: you're doing, too, is even if you know, the people
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: checking you out and the people listening to this show
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: and learning stuff, and people going anywhere to learn stuff
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily mean that they need to jump into the
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: trade both feet. If they can still handle a couple
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: of main projects at their home, a couple of little
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: things that they've got to work on or things that
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: go wrong, they understand that a little better. I mean, yeah, goodness.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: I don't want to go into appliance repair, but I
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: have learned because you know, my dryer quit working exactly,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: my bank account was empty. I didn't have any you know,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: I know it's expensive. I'm starting to look online. I
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: figured out enough to figure that thing out now with
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: a thirteen dollars part. I don't want to go into
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the field, but I can address some issues. And once
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: you learn one thing my experience, I'm sure that's yours,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: you feel confident.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: To try something else exactly.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: All right, let's take a quick break and then we'll
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: be back with the conclusion of my interview with Ginger Martin.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: That's next. Stick around and we're back. You're listening to
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: the REPC Collite home improvement show was sponsored by Benjamin
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Moore and I've got the final part of my interview
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: with the crafty carpenter Ginger Martin. And remember you can
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: catch the full thing on Rep Collites YouTube channel, and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: if you do that, you can put a face to
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: the voice and that's always kind of nice. So be
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: sure to check out that video on Repcollites YouTube page.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: But right now, let's get to the conclusion of my
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: conversation with Ginger Martin.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: Someone was throwing a washing machine away and I asked
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: him if I could have it, and they gave it
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: to me. He said, well, you know it's broken, and
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: would you want this, Yeah, if you want to take it.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: I took that washing machine apart. And what had happened
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: was her son's She had a toddler. His shoe had
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: gone got stuck into the rints pipe so it wouldn't rinse.
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: I pulled the shoe out and I had that washing
• 19:52
  Speaker 2: machine for years and years.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Wow, it's just brilliant, you know, And you can do
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: these things and you just you learn a little bit.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: I fixed air conditioner and that's a big deal. In
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the summer, when you know, we came home from something
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: and it was eighty some degrees. It was during a
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: crazy hot heat wave by us, and you know, eighty
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: some degrees in the house, which is not pleasant. And
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: I'm a gentle soul, so I need.
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: My air conditioning.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: And oh, man, look at the bank account again. Oh
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: we're going to have to figure out how to fix
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the air conditioner. So I'm looking around what are the
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: most common things, And I find there's one thing, really,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: really common. It's a capacitor. Most of the time, it
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: could be this. You know, if it's doing these things,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: because you can even tell the Internet what it sounds
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: like what it's doing. It starts up, this happens, it's
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: probably this. And I look into it. They gave me
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: some troubleshooting things. It looks like that part isn't working.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: It's a thirteen dollars part again or a twenty dollars party. Yeah,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: and there's some safety things you got to do to
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: make sure you do it right. But I fixed the
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: air conditioner limp through another year or two before we
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: had to put a new one in. I mean, it's great, crazy,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: and yeah.
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: You do get this confidence of HM if I fixed that,
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: Like I've fixed plumbing pipes. I've walked people through on
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: the phone where their main waterline had broken, and what
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: to do until you know the city got there. Uh,
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: you know, shut down the water at the main at
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: the goal outside there should be a little you know
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: cap in front of your door, so you need to
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: shut that water off and just yeah, the confidence you
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: have and you know, I have an air conditioner story too.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: I was pregnant and this was in Texas and it
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: was so hot and the air conditioner it was a
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: window unit and it had broken, and I couldn't sleep
• 21:39
  Speaker 2: like that, Like I can't sleep like.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: That, So I can't.
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so i get up in the middle of the
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: night and I'm like this, I can't do this. I
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: gotta take this thing apart and see what's going on here.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: So I turned the air conditioner on and it started going,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: and it started shooting pieces of a steak out of
• 22:00
  Speaker 2: the because I had taken the front part off. So
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: the blower part, yeah, it's a snake had crawled up
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: in there. And so the fan no, so the fan, yeah,
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: it got cut up and spit out at me. And
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: so now I'm screaming like I'm brave, but I don't.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, You're not going to sleep the rest of that
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: night if I don't know if I.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: Want to use the air conditioner now you know, not
• 22:29
  Speaker 2: that those snakes can crawl up there. But yeah, that
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: was horrible. But once again.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Had the guts to jump in and open the thing up, right, Yeah,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: and it did.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: It worked again. It worked as long as we lived there.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: So so be brave. I'm fixed uh VCRs the back
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: in the day. But once you get that confidence, you're
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: you're willing to at least try.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Well, it's what you're talking about. Those that those aren't
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: carpentry things. Those aren't carpentry skills that you're talking about.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: And you trained carpenter, right, You're not a trained to
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: any of these. But it's exactly what we said, once
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: you learn a few things. I was just a complete
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: dope in high school when it came to cars, you know,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: I just I had friends who loved cars. They would
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: puts with their car. That wasn't my thing at all.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: And I just assumed that I was just an idiot
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: when it came to cars. It was not my thing.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: I'm not mechanically inclined, but man, the lack of money
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: will propel and will cause you to do a lot
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: of things and to dig in is you know, I
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: could either, you know, do nefarious things to try to
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: get money, or I could try to fix the things
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: that are broken. And I learned to oh swap, you know,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: change breaks and the fun of it. It really becomes
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: quite fun once you get over that initial fright of
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I'm jumping into something really over my head. But I
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: had done a few little things around the house, and
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: I thought those have worked. Why can't I do that?
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: It's already broken?
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Like the worst I can do with the breaks, I
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: guess it could be severe, but.
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: I've done mechanic work too.
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I guess the thing I look at is every
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: time something goes wrong, you know, the kids will call
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: because now I've got five kids. Multiple people have cars,
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: so everything breaks more readily now because there's just more
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: of them. And that's always the first thought, is this
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: something I can hack and because something I can tackle?
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: And I'll look it up and sometimes it is. Sometimes
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: it's something, Oh, we can do this, we can do
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: this really easily. Yeah, and sometimes it's not. I know
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: better than to jump into that. So how long ago
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: did you start this academy?
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: I just started the academy, I think back in August,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: but I didn't know how to start it. I've been
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: actually working on this for about almost well a year now,
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: and I was teaching at a high school and I've
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: had so many you know, people and women come to
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: me and say, ah, man, I wish I could. One
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: lady said, if I could do what you could do,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: my house will look different every year. She said, I
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: would just change things. And so I thought, you know,
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: but you can do it. So and I did want
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: to teach it, and I wanted to online, and so
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: I've started putting it together. And at first it was
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: just a YouTube channel, and you know, I had to
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: go through all of my technical training because like I
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: tell people, I'm a carpenter. All of this how to
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: work this and work that is just that's a learning process.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: So that's where I'm at now. But I just want
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: to help people, like I said, not just for economic
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: causes or whatever reason, yes, but also the joy of
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: making stuff. I've made chopping boards and Christmas trees, and
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: once again, I just feel like if people, or more
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: women get in touch with their tools and get involved
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: and learn how to use them, just the possibilities are
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: so endless of what you'll be able to do and
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: the confidence that it brings is also priceless. You know,
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: once you learn how to use tools and understand basic principles,
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: like you know, plum level and square, plum level and square.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: It needs to be plumb level and everything is based
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: on it being square. So those basic concepts I thought once,
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: if people could learn that, and if people could learn
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: how to use their tools, your imagination can run wild.
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, So what's your vision for the crafty carpenter and
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: your academy moving forward? What do you think in the
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: next couple of years, what do you see.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: I'm hoping to see a lot of women. I want
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: us to be able to, like I said, just share
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: with each other, use our tools, get online and say
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: a place where you can get online and say, hey,
• 26:45
  Speaker 2: I want to change the handles on my cabinet door,
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: or I think I want to like send give my
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: kitchen a new look. What's your ideas and be able
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: to bounce ideas off each other or even say you know, hey,
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: I pulled this the cabinets off the wall, and this
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: is what I found back there, and now how do
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: I address this situation? So I just I wanted to
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: be a place where women can grow and learn and
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: express and share projects because it's also a lot of
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: fun that when you build something to be able to say,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: look at this, this is so cool because it's what
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: I did, you know, it's it's you know, how do
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: I get all this glue off my fingers?
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: Just a place where.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but a place where we can all come together
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: and share our projects and learn from each other. Or
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: I had one lady she wanted just to simply hang
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: some blinds by her windows, and she was scared, and
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: so I did a video for her and on this
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: is how your windows are framed. Windows and doors are
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: framed like this. You got a good three inches on
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: either side and a whole head or above. So this
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: is the area. And then if you want to go
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: past that area, this is the kind of bolts you're
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: going to use, because you can you know, if you're
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: not going into a stud you still can hang your stuff.
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: You just can't hang it with a normal screw. So
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: just you know, stuff like that, Like it's.
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: How did it end for her? She pulled you never.
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: Told me I see I know, yeah, and showed me
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: that I would love to see. And that's what I'm saying.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: To share your work, I would have. Maybe she hasn't
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: done it yet, I don't know, but she never came back.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: But then so, but that's out there, you know, like
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: understand if you understand the frame framing around your windows
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: and doors, now you know you know everything once you know.
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: Now you know if you want to hang a door
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: and you have to understand the framing, the framework, you
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: know where you're kneeling is.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we talked about that earlier. I know, I did
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: a segment on our radio show. I don't know how
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: long ago, earlier this summer, maybe earlier this spring. But
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: it was the anatomy of framing you know, of a house, okay,
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: and you know, it's just brilliant and riveting to listen
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: to on the radio. I'm sure I did my best
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: to make it as entertaining as possible. But it's so
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: interesting to me because all of what you just said,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: you have a better understanding for what's going on behind
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: the walls. You feel more confident doing other things because
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: you know, at least to some extent, what's going on.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: And the other thing that really hit me, I don't
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: remember if I even said it out loud in the show,
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: but some of the terminology with you know, all the
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: framing materials I'm not comfortable with. I don't. I just
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: didn't know it, you know, and you feel like a
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: complete idiot using the wrong word or saying something. So
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: what I would do is I would avoid any conversations
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: in the paint store. I would avoid conversations other places
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: where I had to call those terms and you know,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: bring those terms up, and it limited, you know, some
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: of the things I would even ask in the stores,
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: and just learning a little bit of the vocab, Yeah,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: this is what that's called. I can have that conversation.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about being stupid about it. Yeah,
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: you know, I understand it, and now people can help
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: me and I can move ahead. For me, I hate
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: feeling stupid, so I would avoid those things. Just the
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: language alone helped me a lot. So your academy is
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: that largely it seems like it's exclusively a woman's thing,
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: right you want? It is true, I do.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: Have Actually I think there is a man or two
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: in there, but so I haven't excluded men. But I
• 30:29
  Speaker 2: was trying to make it a present place for women because,
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: like I said, my experience on jobs and then like
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: you said, terminology and I just feel like there's a
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: lot of a sense of intimidation that women can feel
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: trying to learn carpentry or a trade. And so I
• 30:48
  Speaker 2: just wanted to make a place where you don't have
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: to feel intimidated. And and I encourage people to ask
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: why why?
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: You know, why am I You know, why am I
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: nailing it here? Instead of I wanted it there? You know?
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: Why is going to take you from not understanding to
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: being an expert? You know, you got to just keep
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: asking the wise.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: So this academy that you've got going, is there a
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: charge for that? How does that part work?
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: No, the academy is actually free to join. I charge
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: for liaison work for like people men or women who
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: are getting a project done, and then I'm that liaison
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: between them and the contractor because, like you said, the
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: terminology permits that they have to pull all of these
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: things that have to be done. And I just kind
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: of keep the contractor should have it's called critical path
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: where he has laid out in a timely fashion everything
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: should be clear and understood. And I still think that's
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: kind of intimidating for a lot of people to talk
• 31:49
  Speaker 2: to a contractor. But you don't have to feel intimidated
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: asking me or talking to me, and I can talk
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: to that person. And then I also charge for larger
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: projects that if people want me to actually walk them
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: personally through putting up a petition wall, or you know,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: they want to put a deck outside, or you know,
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: a project that they want to do hands on but
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: they still feel kind of unsure about it, then I
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: charge consultation for that.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: Now do you do that local? Do you do that online?
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: So you'll help anybody anywhere, anybody anywhere, Yes, because I
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: got listeners in Detroit, I've got listeners on the west
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: side of the state, and who knows where else anybody
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: else is finding this.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's cool.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Let's give them some information. If they want to reach
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: out to you, how do they find you?
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: Finding me is really easy. It's always the Crafty Carpenter,
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: So YouTube channel the Crafty Carpenter, and then the school
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: which is a platform that's spelled skol. It's school community,
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: and then you just type in their search bar the
• 32:53
  Speaker 2: crafty Carpenter. I should come up, but it's called the
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: Crafty Carpenter diy Academy.
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: Well, good luck with everything. I'd certainly like to you know,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: touch base with you from time to time. Maybe we
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: could pick a couple of topics sometime down the road
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: and just let you run through some of the stuff
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: that you would normally read it.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: Awesome. Yeah, I'm so glad you had me here. I
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: really enjoyed this.
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a lot of fun talking to you. So
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: all right, take care of you all right again, Remember
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: you can catch that full interview, you know, much more
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: stuff if you go to repco Lightess YouTube page. Check
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: that out. Also check the show notes and the YouTube
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: description for all the links and everything you need if
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: you do want to check out Ginger's academy. All right,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: let's take a quick break and when we come back,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: I've got three or four reasons why I think the
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: trades might be the perfect job for you, your kid or
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: your grandkid. I'll have that in just a minute. Stick around,
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: we're back. You're listening to the Repcollite Home Improvement Show
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: sponsored by Benjamin Moore, and I hope you enjoyed that
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: interview with Ginger Martin the Crafty Carpenter. Don't forget to
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: check out our page, and then while you're at it,
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: make sure you visit Rep Collites YouTube channel for the
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: full interview. You can watch it all in glorious video.
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: You know, every moment, every brilliant question that I ask.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: You can watch it in near four K definitions. So
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: definitely head to Repollate YouTube channel, check out that full interview,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: and then while you're there, hit subscribe ring that little bell.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: I mean, you want the full experience, and if you
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: do that, you'll get notified whenever we post new content
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: and your life will be better for it. So definitely
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: do all those things. All right, In the last little
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: bit that we've got, let's talk about trades. Let's just
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: beat this like a dead horse. You know, we spent
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: three quarters of the show talking about them. Let's finish
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: out talking about trades. And like I said in that interview,
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I grew up in a time when college was really
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: considered the only path. You know, if you didn't go
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: to college, people assumed you were kind of dumb. You know,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: you just weren't cut out. That's what I took away. Anyway,
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: Maybe maybe that's not what they were saying that that's
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: what little Dan took away. If I don't do a
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: big career, if I just go into work somewhere I'm
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: kind of dumb, and that mindset has consequences, and as
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: a result, we've ended up with a shortage of skilled
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: trade workers out there, and looking back, I kind of
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: do get frustrated thinking about how the trades were just
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: off handedly dismissed, you know, when they really can be
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: a perfect fit for a lot of people. You know,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: they're not for everybody, of course, they're not for everybody,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: but for the right person, they're rewarding, and they're a
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: valuable path that, you know, and we all need them.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: That's the thing. We all need these skilled workers, and
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: right now, because we don't have them, there's a little
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: bit of pain out there. So if you've got a
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: kid or a grandkid considering their future, don't overlook the trades,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: you know, don't breeze past them. Be that advocate, you know,
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: be that voice who at least brings them up and
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: stresses the fact that there's beauty and working with your hands,
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: you know, and creating things on a daily basis, in
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: developing and fine tuning a craft, you know, and taking
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: pride in your work. All of that can be found
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: in the trades. Encourage those kids, and you know, who
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: knows where things go. So with that in mind. To
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: help you do that, here are a few reasons why
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: the trades might be the perfect choice. First off, one
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: reason they're great is limited debt. You know, college is expensive.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: We talked about that in the interview, and I know
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: it's necessary for some careers, you know, completely necessary. I
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: don't want a dentist or surgeon working on me who
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: learned it all back on the farm, right, I don't
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: want that. Maybe in a pinch, you know, maybe in
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: a life and death dental emergency maybe, But for the
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: most part, I want a dentist with a degree, right,
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: and clean hands, but even more so a degree. So yeah,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: some jobs need college, but that education it definitely comes
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: with a lot of debt. And pursuing a trade right
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: after high school means you start earning money right away,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: usually without the burden of massive loans or anything like that.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: You know, my electrician kid said it earlier, But he's
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: socking money away right now except what he drops on
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: door dash, But he's socking money away. He's saving for
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: a house, saving so he can start a family. It's
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: a really, really great choice. Second, with the trades, you
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: gain practical lifelong skills you know, that was in the
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: interview as well. But my electrician kid, he doesn't just
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: work his trade. He's picked up abilities that are going
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: to save him money and serve him forever in his
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: home and in his father's home, which is really important
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: to me. Me is who I'm talking about there. I'm
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: not being religious, you know, take that in a religious way.
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: I'm sure he can use this for God's kingdom, But
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: mostly I was thinking about my house. I've got some needs,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: electrical needs, and I'm hoping he'll help another of my kids.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: He spent last summer working with a painting contractor and
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: he went from zero painting experience to confidently moving around
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: thirty foot extension ladders and painting houses. You know, these
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: skills stick with you and they make life easier. Third,
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: in the trades, you're surrounded by people who tackle challenges
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: head on all the time. You know, my electrician kid
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: works with trades people who fix houses, renovate properties, and
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: take on huge projects without hesitation. And that kind of
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: confidence is contagious. It prepares you to handle anything and
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: to jump willingly into anything. Last thing, jobs are plentiful
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: and they pay well, you know, I know, college grads
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: who are struggling to find work right now. And while
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: that's the case, trade workers they're in demand. You know,
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: if one job doesn't work out, there are five others
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: waiting for your skills and the pay pay is really good,
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: you know, no waiting years to get established. So if
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: your kids or your grandkids are you enjoy working with
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: your hands, you want a rewarding career, you know, consider
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: the trades. Talk to local contractors, painting contractors, plumbers, electricians
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: to learn more. You know, it's challenging work, but incredibly
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: fulfilling and that's going to do it. If you happen
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: to be looking for a painting contractor for some work
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: this winter, be sure to head to repcollite dot com
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: and click the find the Painter tab on the homepage.
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: Fill out a brief form, and then will help you
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: connect with a painting contractor in your area who specializes
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: in whatever work you need done. Now. Remember you can
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: catch the full interview with Ginger on reprolites YouTube page.
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: Check that out. Be sure to subscribe. Ring that little
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: bell and like the video. You know three things for
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: you to do there. Do all of those. Appreciate it.
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: I really appreciate it all right. Whatever you do today,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: make sure paints a part of it. Have a great weekend, everybody,
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: and I'll see you next week. I'm Dan Hansen. Thanks
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: for listening.