Bondo497 wrote:@John
You've been holding out on us on there hotrod, in all ears and ready for the long version. I've got my popcorn and I'm ready!!
Well I first started learning upholstery at Wyotech in Sacramento. I had gone through the automotive program and all the hotrod fabrication classes. I was all set to go to work for a dealership somewhere. It was a last minute decision to add on the upholstery class and stay few months longer. I really loved the entire school and learned huge amount. I actually went to the VW training school after wyotech and was supposed to go to work for a VW dealer.
Once I had finished all the training I was back in CA and was looking for a job. But people started asking if I could work on their car or do some upholstery job for them and so on... After a little while all these side jobs were making more money than I would at the dealer ship. So, I just decided not to get a job and start my first upholstery venture called JPcustoms. I did this for a little over a year and did quite well for myself. One day a good friend of mine from school called as said he was starting big custom fabrication shop in Phoenix and wanted me to partner with him. I was young and crazy back then a said "Hell Yeah!" I mean why not... my small business here in CA was going well so how hard could it be to go bigger in phoenix, Right?? So, before I knew it I had all my things packed and I headed off to phoenix,
Those next 4 years were the hardest and most educational years of my life. My upholstery skills got extremely good during this period because we were constantly selling jobs that were way above my skill level. I just didn’t have a choice but to raise the bar and figure out how to do the job. It was overwhelming but some how I always figured it out and that always lead to another job. We worked like crazy to keep things alive, keep the bills payed, keep employees payed. 100-120 hour weeks were pretty normal. I also learned a ridiculous amount about running a business during these years as well. Especially because we were accepted in to this entrepreneur program that was basically a 2-year small business boot camp that was similar to going through an MBA program. In the end things just didn’t work out between me and my partner and I decided it was best to leave the company. During that time, we had made some YouTube videos that were really popular and that’s where I originally got the idea for making the training videos. We just never had the time to peruse it.
Feeling pretty down and defeated I returned back to California completely broke. I mean for real broke!! Not the kind of broke people talk about when they are complaining not being able to go on vacation. Like no money, no food, move in with your parents broke. Being for real broke, now that is one humbling life experience and it changes the way you make decisions after that. So I picked up where I left off and continued doing work for the customers I still had left here. This is when I also started the Lucky Needle. I was back in town maybe 3-4 months and I fell in to this random opportunity through a friend to work for this Ferrari race team. I did one event with them they never let me leave. I started traveling all over the country with them. It really got me back on my feet and feeling good again. I’m also a really good welder, fabricator and mechanic. That’s why they wouldn’t let me leave because there wasn’t much I couldn’t fix. They just had to teach me how the racing world worked. Haha they even bought me a sewing machine at one point and I was making covers for all the spare body parts. From there is started working for other teams as well. Its been 4+ years I have been doing that and it’s been a really great experience but I don’t enjoy it so much anymore. The long days, living out of hotels and all the work place drama have gotten old. Plus, my passion really is in upholstery, fabrication and business. I really enjoy business and hate working for someone else.
During these last 4+ years of racing is when I built The Lucky Needle. I would film on the days I was home and edit the videos on the airplane and in the hotel at night. Answering emails on my phone whenever I had 5 mins. I just did everything one small chunk at a time. 10 mins here, a day there and now its what it is today. Recently I have cut back a lot on the days I work racing. I haven’t decided yet if I will start doing more customer work or just focus on The Lucky Needle. Probably just focus on The Lucky Needle. I really love making the videos and seeing the huge difference it has made for people. I plan to make this the best upholstery resource and community available anywhere.
I also want to expand outside of upholstery as well. I’m not sure if that will be part of The Lucky Needle or not.
Well there you have it. Told you it was a long strange story.
Love of my life Hahaha!
Been a electrician ,carpenter, pipe fitter got tired of being gone all of the time an no garage to work in at night. Ended up going back to school and becoming a machinist That sure has helped my street rod projects
- By Adam12