I am a self-taught handyman, and I make a living in the junkyards and thrift shops of the town.
- Around here the group of us friends have something called a “swap meet.” It’s a little bit like a flea market, or a bazaar, where local people set up tables, booths, and tents to sell their crafts.
Some people sell handmade items such as jewelry or toys, and other people sell third hand units or old used clothes. Then you have people like me, who refurbish seasoned or disfigured oil furnaces and air conditioning system units and resell them for a tidy profit, but my sales are dictated by the time of the season. During the summer months I mostly sell air conditioning units, and while in the wintertime the oil furnaces are our top seller. I also work on lamps, hot plates, toasters, blenders, most other family room appliances, and old humidifiers. My tables are consistently fully stocked with little machines I have rebuilt, but the heating and cooling unit is where I make most of our money. Trying to find a quality area furnace for less than a hundred bucks is possible, but nobody can find a portable air conditioning system component for less than $330. I can buy a broken air conditioner for $30 or $40, then repair it and sell it for $175. I make a big profit, and yet the customer still gets a remarkable savings on their air conditioning. It helps that I have a fantastic reputation in the community, so people know that if their air conditioning doesn’t work, they can bring it back and I will take care of them.