Use the right tool for the job
I like tools. Tools are wonderful things. There are two problems I have been dealing with for quite some time; tools cost money and my wife is “frugal”. If she can save $50 then she will spend hours hammering away at a project in the house and then spend the next 2 weeks complaining about how long it took and how sore she is. I, on the other hand, believe sincerely in the fact that if $50 for a nail gun will save me hours of work and a sore back then it is well worth the money. I am quite capable of using almost any tool in the way it was intended to be used, but I don’t believe in making a project last longer than it needs to just for the sake of saving a few dollars.
When I started working with leather I went to the local Tandy Leather Factory supply store to buy a wallet kit and some tools. The kit was her idea, but I know for a fact she had no idea what was involved with the process. When I came home with a wooden mallet, a set of 5 basic stamping tools, and a bottle of stain her first reaction was one of happiness, but that quickly turned to skepticism when she found out about the other costs associated. Please don’t get me wrong. She is a wonderful woman who believes in good stewardship of the money I earn for the family. She plans and saves and knows how to make a dollar go a long way.
That being said, whenever the unknown costs associated with any project start rearing their head she instantly starts to throw the stink eye in my direction. I can’t blame her. Earlier in our marriage I was eager to spend our money on the toys and stuff that kept popping up around every payday, so I understand her concerns. I will also say, in my defense, that over the last eleven years of our marriage I have come to appreciate her perspective and have become much more cautious of my spending habits and more attentive and responsible with my families financial well-being.
As the leather bug continued to infect me I was like a junkie needing a fix. I jumped at every opportunity to go to Tandy and buy more tools and materials. As fast as ideas would come into my head-money seemed to leap out of my wallet. I knew what I would hear every time I mentioned the words “going to Tandy”. Normally I would cave, but this was different. It was like driving on a road you know like the back of your hand but you had never driven before. I was meant to do this, but if I was going to do it right I needed tools and materials to get it done. I always loved the times when we struggled to find a gift for an upcoming birthday or holiday and she would suggest I make something. That was music to my ears.
Before long I had so many tools and stains that I needed a cabinet to hold it all. After a little more time I needed an entire bedroom, and even then that did not last long. Eventually, rather than spend the money building a shop shed in the back yard, Kathy suggested I move my operation into the master bedroom which I did and instantly outgrew. As I started collecting tools I was able to apply them to more projects, which helped me bring in more money. This was especially helpful during the times I would get laid off from my DoD Contracting job, which happened every year for the last 6 years on October 1st, which also coincided with the Fiscal New Year and the period of time where politicians use jobs as a gambit in their chess match and make everyone very nervous and uncomfortable for a while in order to influence legislation and voting.
Needless to say I found myself in a position where I needed to be able to make the kind of “DoD contracting” money necessary to pay the bills, feed the family and keep the cars running without actually having the same paycheck. Because of the tools and material at my disposal I was able to do that and more. I found myself taking on jobs for other people who kept the money coming in and good work going out. The more work I did the more orders I received. I began to realize that my perception of success was wrong.
Success was not related to some weird trick or feat of strength or power. Success was determined by your usefulness to society. If people have a need that you can fill then they are generally going to seek you out to fill it for them, at some personal cost, rather than gather the experience and tools to do it on their own. The more tools and experience I had the more I could do for others, which led to more experience and more opportunities. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Eventually you are able to synthesize the growing sets of knowledge and experiences and apply them to new challenges with greater confidence and efficiency. Do not think for a minute that doing something by hand is wrong. When all else fails you can move mountains as long as you have strong and capable hands and the will to use them however necessary. When you gather together the right tools for any project, however, you are more able to affect your own environment and that of others with greater efficiency and immediacy.
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