Working Smarter Not Harder

I'm extremely excited right now about what I've been working so hard to accomplish and I just procured one of the last pieces of the puzzle.  Actually, three things...but two that I just made the decision to buy which is really going to help in so many ways...I don't know where to begin?

First off.  The projects and clean up around the house?  After living in the same place for almost 28 years...the accumulation of "things" was getting out of hand.  I committed myself to cleaning everything up since my wife arrived and I have been working none stop ever since.  Last summer I injured my shoulder from all the heavy lifting involved and I decided that since I'm not 25 any more and I can't work my body that hard ( the message my body was sending me lol )....I've been looking for a loader or tractor to buy that was in my price range which was really a trick since they start out new at anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 dollars which is not even in the realm of doable?  What to do?  I rented one a couple of times and the progress and the amount I got done in a week equaled 10 guys working full time and I was able to work none stop without resting and recovering?  That was the answer...but money was the problem?

A friends mother had given me one of those heavy duty personal scooter chairs which was used by her husband before he passed away from illness and I was trying to sell it for her with no luck since insurance pays so much that no one will pay much for them?  What to do?

In the meantime....I have been looking for years...for a suitable precision lathe to buy so I can make really exacting and precision machine parts for anything I might want..but more in terms of an idea that I have to copy and special tool used in the Jewelry business for
Goldsmiths ( or other craftsman )...that was taken off the market because they were so expensive and were not selling well but....I have one and anyone who has ever had one ( or still does )..is desperately looking for repair parts and many people are trying to find anyone who wants to see theirs they are so good!!  I've been waiting to reverse engineer the one I've got and market it which I'm sure....I can reproduce even better and cheaper in my home shop...but I need that precision lathe to do the quality and production which needs a CNC to do it with?

Sometimes good things come to those who can wait?  In one week....I found a an old ( very well made ) tractor from a guy who just happened to be moving and needed to see it fast and cheap which I picked up for $1,700 with the new equivalent being closer $18,000.  Score!!!  Now...I have 10 guys working for me everyday...and all I have to pay them is diesel fuel and a little oil on occasion!!!  The amount of work and things I can get done in 1 month...will be equal to 10 months doing it without which was what I was attempting to do?  I just had to be patient and keep looking and I new it would appear?  And it's more than I ever dreamed I could afford and has the ability to do more than I had actually been looking for?

And then....a lathe appeared on Craigslist that was exactly what I needed.  New...they're over $20,000...but used and 30 years old...again...from a machinist locally that had 5 of them but moved to a smaller shop needed to make it go away right now...for a whopping $1,200 which he was glad to deliver since it weighs 4,000 lbs!! LOL  With a little ingenuity and some working on it...I will be able to manufacture my own cnc components and turn it into a fully automated production machine which I can start by making the proto type for my new tool design.  I've been working on this and other designs like it with other things I can sell that are no longer being made in the same way...that this is now the final stages of what I have been working towards for years and here I am with nothing standing in my way?

AND...that skooter chair it seems...has another use that I discovered on Youtube where people are converting those to forklifts and 4 x 4 material movers that can handle over 800lbs.  Can you say...engine hauler and fork lift combined?  I can ..and I've already picked up the components and hydraulic bit and pieces on ebay used for next to nothing from defunct manufacturers that were liquidated for ridiculous amounts since they are just the parts...not the whole thing?  I also just picked u[[p a jib crane from a liquidator that can lift and move 1/2 ton and put it where ever I want it...or right into a car ( as in an engine...pick up bed or cab?? ) or right into my paint booth for painting.

I see the future...coming from a long term plan happening and it's taken a lot of work to get here and now...I don't have to worry about injuring myself...plus doing thing faster and better than I ever have before.  I took the ideas of exactly what I saw being used by others in the field...and found a way to do it...at a price I can afford.  It just takes longer to do it that way...but if you got no money...then you find a different route?

I am so excited about seeing my efforts pay off and despite my wife not being the least bit interested in this and can't see anything coming from it because she simply doesn't understand ( or cars to either way? )...despite her dismissive attitude and lack of faith in me....if she decides to stay then she'll see what I have been talking about and the results which were just in the works.  She can't get past her need for immediate gratification...and she can't connect the future to things that take time to build.  I understand this and she is not alone there.  Those who have never done anything like this or produced a product or made things by hand...have a hard time seeing the connection between a precision lathe...and a steady source of income with limitless possibilities.  It's the same kind of lathe they use to make computer part which require precision and exactness down to the micron in tolerance?  She can't comprehend an "air bearing"...but she doesn't need to.  All she needs is faith in me...and the ability to trust which appear to be lacking in her repertoire...but not in mine?

That.l..and a little imagination which she does seem to have...but not in a good way? ( magical thinking )  What I'm proposing has nothing to do with magic.  It's reality and "real" products that people want..and are willing to pay money for?

Working smarter not harder.....and the imagination that comes with having ADHD.  I find joy in that...evertime I get a new idea....and then make it reality.

 

J