At Your Service

This Covid pickle we’re in has cost many jobs and disrupted many businesses. Think of all the restaurants that have gone under or are barely getting by, and all their bartenders, servers and other food service workers who have been laid off or working diminished hours. How have the skilled trades fared through it all? […]

College Enrollment Is Down

Written by Jim Olsztynski Recent data from the National Student Clearing House indicates that undergraduate college enrollment is down 4.4%, although that’s probably understated. Many colleges aren’t releasing their numbers publicly and an official at the Department of Education said it would be at least two years before data becomes available. More timely indication of declining […]

Give Your Parents A Christmas Gift That Lasts

Your Mom and/or Dad are special people. They have sacrificed many personal interests and spent a lot of hard-earned money to raise you, and in many cases are still supporting you with a place to live and food to eat. Some of you with money to spend are looking to reciprocate a little of their […]

A Dire Forecast of Trade Worker Shortage

Think our lives have been disrupted by Covid? We’re living in Paradise compared with life without enough skilled trade workers to build and maintain the mechanical systems our modern world depends on. Do you really want to go back to a time when wood stoves were the only way to keep warm in winter and […]

Start Reading Trade Publications

Virtually every skilled trade is targeted with at least one and usually more than one publication aimed at that particular audience. The best part is that most, though not all, of these magazines, newspapers and newsletters are FREE! They have what’s known as qualified circulation, supported entirely by advertisers with an interest in reaching a […]

10 Reasons To Consider A Trade Career

A huge demand exists for people in the trades, especially the skilled trades like HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc. Almost every trade employer cites a shortage of workers as one of the main problems facing the business. Pay scales are high and going up. The Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS)show average wages of between $50,000-$60,000 for all […]

Do You Have What It Takes?

Not everyone has the talent and personal characteristics to become a skilled trade worker. Too many high school counselors think the trades are for people whose academics are not good enough for college. It reveals more about their ignorance than the intelligence of the students they point toward the trades.  If you’re thinking about a trade […]

The Joy Of Parenthood & Beyond

I write this as the proud father of two grown daughters and absolutely giddy grandfather of four impossibly charming granddaughters, ranging in age from 6 to 15. (Any mistakes I make can be attributed to inhaling too many estrogen molecules. It was worse when our household also included two female cats, now deceased.)  Like me, most people who […]

Cheap Is As Cheap Does

I was at a daughter’s house recently when she talked about an HVAC service firm that a day before had fixed her balky air conditioning system amid the sweltering summer heat. It was a company I recommended to her because I knew the owner and had used their services. My daughter spoke about how pleased […]

True Grit

One of the reasons why trade workers are in short supply is because the trades have a reputation as being “gritty” work. The word gritty in this context gets interpreted as hard and dirty. I won’t sugarcoat it. To some extent, this is true. Trade work does involve more physical effort than desk jobs, and […]