After realizing that appliance repair might be a good option, I started to look at it more closely.
First, it’s not regulated, so you don’t need a license or a 4-year apprenticeship or anything like that. Second, you can make some good money doing it. So far, so good. How do I start?
First thing I did was get a really good book on appliance repair: Troubleshooting and Repairing Major Appliances, by Eric Kleinert.
I started looking at training options, and there were some expensive technical programs, but I kept on thinking what I really needed was someone to show me the practical side of the appliance repair business.
I live in an extremely remote rural area, about two hours from the nearest major city. I don’t have a father, brother, neighbor or friend in the appliance business. How could I get someone to show me the ropes?
Not only do I need to get a look at all of the makes and models of appliances I’m going to be repairing, but I also need to know how to run an appliance repair business – what to charge, how to get customers, the tricks of the trade.
I started thinking maybe I could contact some established appliance repair businesses in my area, and see if I could offer my services for free just so I could ride along with them and learn how it’s done. Of course, they’d be training their competition, so I knew it would be a tough sell.
I could make a deal with them to refer all the calls I was nervous about handling to them so I wouldn’t get stuck in over my head or trying to service something that would take me three days. Hopefully, they would see the benefit of our association.
I didn’t know exactly how this was going to work, so I kept chewing on it.
Looking for more training resources online, I discovered a guy called Uncle Harry that seemed like he might be the virtual version of what I was looking for. He had step-by-step manuals for all types, makes and models of appliance repairs. He also had the practical, running the business stuff I was looking for.
I called Uncle Harry to find out if he would even answer the phone, and he did. He sounded in person like he does in his demos, a real nuts and bolts guy with just a ton of experience.
After thinking about it for a week, I bought the training manuals and the videos.
I’ve been very satisfied. Harry has been in the appliance repair business for over 40 years and used to be a teacher, so he’s easy to understand and what he says sinks in because it makes sense. He’s basically done a brain dump of everything he knows about appliance repair, and there’s really nothing else like it out there on the market.
Uncle Harry has been the bridge between reading technical material about appliance repair and feeling like I could actually start a business.
Now, how can I get my hands on some appliances?