Hi. I'm Michelle, Jill of Many Trades. This is a picture of me with my sweet dog, Munchie, one of many great dogs I have had over the years.
People often ask me how I became a carpenter. It was not anything I dreamed of doing when I was a kid. I don't know that it would have even occurred to me. My dad was definitely not a handy person (nor my mom).
In my early 20s I was in community college in Traverse City, MI studying Young Child Development. I love and am great with kids, and I thought working in a daycare might be a good way to put my skills to work in a career. At one point, I scheduled some visits to some area childcare centers to see if I could find one that would be a cool place to work. I was dismayed to find out what the pay was for that kind of work! Most of the wonderful people who worked those jobs either had a husband with a better paying job, or a second job a few nights a week.
About that time a friend of mine told me about a job opening at a wood working shop connected to a hardware store and lumber yard. I got the job and immediately was making almost twice as much as the day cares were paying. LOL- a whopping $6 an hour.
My geometry and mechanical brain took to the work right away, and I had some great teachers. I love busting stereotypes, so I was totally onboard with that. When I came to North Carolina on and open-ended trip in 1986, I spent a few years working on construction crews and for individual freelancers. At some point I got kinda annoyed with working for a bunch of macho guys- particularly the young ones who were sure from the get go that woman couldn't possibly be any good at this stuff or worthy of their respect, and I thought about what else I could try. But in the meantime, I needed to work, so a friend helped me craft a little classified ad in a monthly publication directed at parents and families. I was delighted to find that most of the people who contacted me were women who were also quite over being talked down to by men. I have met many kindred spirits along the path of being Jill of Many Trades, and while many of the people who I work with continue to be women, I am happy to help some men as well. It's absolutely the case that just being a man doesn't automatically make a person good at trades work. It takes practice, like anything else, and it involves a set of aptitudes that not everyone has or needs to have. There are plenty of other things to do with your time besides learning a skill that you will barely ever use. I've been practicing a long time and have learned a lot in the past 30+ years, and I'm still here, so I'm obviously doing something right.
My business is built around doing those small jobs that the bigger contractors don't have time for. It's a much needed niche. Not many people have figured out how to organize the time and cover the overhead costs of doing primarily small jobs, so if you have had trouble finding help with your small jobs, that's part of the reason.
I also play music and run a business built around getting myself and may band hired to play gigs. I do solo acoustic house concerts and I bring my band to places ranging from neighborhood bars and restaurants, to street fairs, dances, festivals, parties and private events. Between the two, I have made a life for myself. I also love to garden, spend time with people and animals, and get out in the woods. And to visit my other home state of Michigan, which I do every fall.
