Introduction: Unlike most of my competition I got started in this at a very young age.
When I was only a child barely walking and talking my dad noticed that if it had buttons nobs lights or switches or wires attached I was very interested even mesmerized. So for my third birthday he built me this thing that he called a gadget it was a big wooden box with a 6 volt car battery in it and it had lights switches buttons and a little motor with a pulley that had a belt that went around an idler pulley that would spin when you pull out a button.
On the bottom corner of this gadget was two electrical terminals when you pulled out one of the buttons there was 6 volts on them. This allowed me to power other things. Well for the next few years I spent more time with that thing then a typical 16 year old dose today with their cell phone, computer or Xbox. As soon as I learned to read I began checking out every book I could find on the subject of electricity. When I was 8 years old my dad built a there car garage and I wired it for him. As I got older my friends and family began asking me to fix things for them. By the time I was in high school I was learning electronics and got into CB radio and I started making friends with a large number of truck drivers whom found out that I could fix CB radios.
And so while all my friends had paper routs or worked as box boys or flipping burgers at a local fast food joint I made my money doing something that I loved. I never worked a regular job until I got married two days before my 21st birthday. After I got married I decided that I needed a steady paycheck and benefits so after a couple other meaningless jobs I took a job as a High Voltage electrician (Lineman Splicer). But I still continued to do side work. Because I enjoyed the challenge and how happy someone would be when I was able to solve their problem especially when they had already had several other people try unsuccessfully.
While everyone else dose this 8-10 hours a day and then goes home and never gives it another thought until they clock in the next day I am always thinking about this stuff and better ways to do things.
Finding and fixing a complex problem that has eluded others before me and seeing the surprise of the customer whom is by this time thinking it's not fixable.