If skill doesn’t hustle, hustle beats skill, Plastic Man LLC
If skill doesn’t hustle, hustle beats skill. These words were uttered in my general direction in a song, when these words hit my ear holes my brain must have made some weird connection. it may have been the connected with the story the current owner of Aroplax Corporation in Monticello at the time he was just middle management type, who spent time on the floor working of Aroplax. I can never fault him for not putting in his time on the floor working, he may have been “special,” but he did his job. Thomas was telling me about how his grandfather started the company in a small building with only two IMMs. This to me is what; If skill doesn’t hustle, hustle beats skill Means. If you feel you have the skills you should be out there, hustling those skills developing them, making your own way in the world, your own money, not making some fat cat rich, who just sits in an office and stares at a spreadsheet; stopping for a fancy lunch with a drink, a spot of golf and then back to the office to finish two more hours off and go home.
When I found myself lucky enough to be in a position to actually change from skill to hustle, I took it. I didn't think about it, I didn't worry about what could go wrong, I just did it and I'm glad I did. I remember sitting outside of my job one day after about an hour drive one way and just sitting in the parking lot, I was just scrolling through eBay looking through different machinery and IMMs, than I found an ISF 120 Toshiba, It was hydraulic, It was old, It was beat up, It was beautiful. after text message or two to my wife, back and forth; I closed my eyes, and I hit the purchase button, after missing it once. By this point I had filed all the paperwork with the state, becoming a real big boy LLC. I had been out looking for a place to start, but with the business not having clients or income besides my families personal income; it was difficult to find a suitable location. I looked into everything from business incubators to just outright buying a building or leasing. Nothing ever seemed to fit, then I decided to just transform my garage. I figured that would be a good enough place to start at least to bring in income and then move into a building that was more suited to growth. The decision really wasn't finalized until I made the purchase on the machine. Then I arranged for a trucking company to come down from Minnesota, drive out to Baltimore to up pick the injection molding machine and return it to me in Wisconsin.
After that I spent a good two weeks cleaning out the garage getting everything spotlessly cleaned and removed anything that was there previously; besides the tools and workbenches, Then the day came the IMMs was due to arrive. I arranged a boom forklift; something I have never driven or operated, but being relatively similar to a standard forklift I was able to watch a video or two and grasp the concept. And pull it off the semi-trailer with extreme ease. Impressing the drivers of the rigging company driver but also the rental delivery place driver. (I offered him $50 to do it for me, but he turned it down.) I Strapped her down, rolled her up the driveway and into the garage and the work of building Plastic Man LLC being. As this was a bare bones building, no insulation, no sheetrock, nothing except walls, electricity, and a roof.
I began with the floor, choosing a nice bright white for light reflectivity. After that we turned our attention to Sheetrock, another thing I had never actually done, only seen done. After seeking a little advice, watching some videos. me and the kids proceeded to hang the sheetrock across the entire two car garage taping, mudding and sanded by hand the entire two car garage. I Install a propane heater, again the first time; but you don’t want hydraulic oil to freeze. I did surprisingly good. I passed the gas companies inspection before he would install the line to the tank outside. in between doing all this I was making purchases on quality control equipment, server, workstations, multiple printing devices for various tasks that would need doing.
After for years of dedication, bootstrapping, and just all-around demanding work had made something beautiful something uniquely mine, Plastic Man LLC. It was lacking only one thing industrial level power. My home was in the country at first, I found to be difficult as my infrastructure was generally lacking and overly outdated. However, the Solve was relatively simple, simply operate a step-up power inverter. I intended to kill two birds with one stone as the garage was built after the house the power ran directly into the house so what I hadn't intended to do was install solar panels on the on the garage, install a battery bank in the house to help reduce demand and rerun The power line to the garage. While it was a simple solution, it was a costly solution. I believe in all the power rework would have cost around $15,500 and some change. after largely completing the factory itself, I went back to work various jobs pizza delivery driver, factory labor generally low commitment positions. one of the things I've discovered is when you start your own business. a lot of places are less likely to hire you. they would consider you a “flight risk,” if things took off and they relied on you and you took off, it would screw them over a long run. so out of abundance of caution they pass you over for positions, just one of life’s catch 22s.
When I was nearing the finish line it was In 2023 the world collapsed out from under me, we lost everything due to inter family greed, but that's not what this is about. its discovering what you're capable of, More often than not it's not the hand that you're dealt with, it’s how you play it. When it came to plastic Man, I played a long game; I was after all playing to win. And irrespective of how things turned out, I learn that if you've developed the skills. You should get off your ass and get to hustling, You can do it, You might have to learn some new skills, but you can do it. I did.
This was my attempt, what’s yours?
