The Upholstery Forum

@John
I don't see how you work a full day plus make videos and keep up with this forum! You must never sleep but I think I can speak for everyone here and say thank you for helping us when no one else will.

"NO ONE ELSE WILL" John brought me to this point Bondo. I did a lot of pavement pounding and after a lot of confusion with closed doors realized I am can do this!

Luckily I have a few local upholstery folks that are old school and want to see this trade keep going. Around here there is more work than anyone can keep up with so its not a "cut throat" business.

Having someone like @John with their finger on the pulse of the industry is extremely helpful to us new guys to say the least.

Haha thanks for the kind words guys! But I do sleep. I have a tendency to work my self in to the ground. So I really try to make sure I get my 7-8 hours. My brain is really active a night though that's why you see me on the forum sometimes so late.

I have a pretty long & strange story about The Lucky Needle and how I have time for all for it. I'm more than happy to share it with you guys if you want.

But the short answer is I don't do a lot of customer these days. Unless I need something to film. I have a part time job working as a race car fabricator/mechanic with different Ferrari and Lamborghini teams around the country. That's what keeps the bills payed and allows me the time to work on The Lucky Needle and The Upholstery Forum.

@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!!

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.

Man that's awesome, I tip my hat to you brother!
I had my own business for a while as well and can totally relate to your struggles and defeats but you came out of it all with pep in your step. Kudos!!

Its like listening to my son! He is in your old industry Bondo and he is about ready to partner up and open a big shop. He is a blend of you and John together. I have to reign him in but no stopping the raging desire of a young man.

I really like your story John, very motivational!

That is such a great story! There is nothing like being driven to be more then you are.

It is hard to find someone who is willing to teach and pass their knowledge on.

THANK YOU!

@Bondo497 @BigRig @kl4bidn
Thanks so much for all your support and kind words! I'm glad to be able to do this and help you guys with the struggle of finding the information about this industry. I know how hard it is. A lot of this stuff I had to figure it out on my own.
Hopefully together we can all build this in to something great and bring the knowledge of this industry back to life!

@John
I can completely relate. I've always been in a shop, since I was a kid. I learned to weld at a really young age, probably too young. Growing up on a farm in OK you've gotta be thrifty. Repairing and fabricating bigger and stronger equipment is what started my love for any and all things fabrication. Something about creating something from nothing really made my world go round. Long hours and work ethic come standard on a farm also.

When I was a senior in high school I got offered a full ride welding scholarship to OSU IT in Okmulgee. I kicked around the idea for a long time and talked to others in that line of work. I finally decided while the money was good I wouldn't ever be happy burning rods on pipelines around the country working for someone. Also pipelining is really hard on your body and your not home much. I also got an offer to go to school at OSU in Stillwater. While it wasn't a full ride it was a reduced tuition and had the opportunity to do a "work study" program at the university's machine and tool shop. This is where I learned to run lathes, mills, some cnc stuff, and weld all sorts of crazy alloy's together.

Fast forward 5 years and I graduated with a degree in Agronomy. HaHa. Returned to the farm and settled in to raising livestock and growing soybeans and wheat on around 5,000 acres. Basically, right back to where I was when I left for school. The only problem was that I kept spending more and more time in the shop working on trucks.

Two years ago I started Smokin S Customs LLC. I realized that it didn't really matter if I was working on my stuff or someone else's, I just wanted to be creating cool trucks. I'm still fabricating and painting whatever is in front of me. Why not get paid to do something you would already be doing anyways? This upholstery stuff is still really new to me but keeping it in house really allows me to put custom touches on these trucks and not go way over budget. Currently we're still a 1 man shop and I put in some crazy hours in order to get things done. Part of that is because I still farm full time with my dad. Glutton for punishment I suppose.

Anyways sorry for the long post but like I said earlier I can totally relate.

That's a cool story. I'm glad to see there is a kinship amongst everyone here and I'm especially happy to hear that hard work and perseverance is alive and well this great country we call the home! If want it bad enough you'll have it, all it takes is drive hard work and sweat!

@SmokinSCustoms Thanks!
Cool story and thank you for sharing it. I know what you mean about the welding. I took an industrial welding class when I was 16 at the community collage. It was fun but no way I could burn rods in the dark all day long. Haha. Im a TIG guy. I might be able to do that all day....
I hope Smoking S Customs does great and cant wait to see the cool trucks you make!

@John Yeah a good TIG machine is hard to beat when it comes to fab work. I'm ready to upgrade mine to a liquid torch. Heavy tig work right now gets the ol hands a bit hot.

@SmokinSCustoms
Miller Dynasty 210 DX Love of my life Hahaha!

Glad to see you guys are getting to do something you enjoy! I've done a lot of different jobs with my hands and that's what I like. I upholstered my first street rod ( 39 Ford deluxe coupe) that I built in 1968 . Use X-wife's potable singer Poor singer sounded like it had a rod loose after that 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

Amazing and inspirational stories! This forum and its users are so nice that is easy to understand why it's such a great forum!

Its all about guys like us Johhny who have a common goal and that is to learn and become more skilled at this craft. I appreciate all your posts and I know you are going to become an Upholstery Master

Thanks! Glad to have you as a part of the forum @LeatherJohnny

Thanks again!