Moniqueca Sims, proprietor of SSG Equipment Academy, received her first glimpse into the equipment restore trade whereas courting a person who labored within the house. “He labored on a regular basis, seven days per week,” Sims recollects, “so I used to exit with him simply to spend time with him. I noticed how straightforward it was for him to restore these home equipment, and he was repairing them shortly.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of SSG Equipment Academy. Moniqueca Sims.
Sims believes in “working smarter, not tougher” and had the concept to rent technicians to assist the person she was courting with restore calls. She did, however when he did not decelerate, she ended up together with her personal equipment restore firm.
Nevertheless, in working that enterprise, Sims misplaced a big sum of money buying elements. Many individuals she employed did not truly know the best way to restore home equipment — and would simply change out half after half in the hunt for a match.
So Sims took issues into her personal palms once more. She enrolled in a web based course to study equipment restore and began dealing with jobs herself, even taking her youngsters alongside generally.
“If you repair one thing, it boosts you up, each time you do it.”
Nonetheless, Sims knew there needed to be a greater strategy to prepare and rent technicians for enterprise progress, so as soon as extra she got down to make it occur: She based SSG Equipment Academy, which gives hands-on coaching programs on the basics to have a profession within the equipment restore trade, in Atlanta in 2019.
“ I noticed how equipment restore was the present that retains on giving,” Sims says. “If you exit, whenever you repair one thing, it boosts you up, each time you do it. It isn’t a grunt job. It is a feel-good job.”
When Sims went out on jobs together with her daughter, she discovered that lots of the purchasers have been stay-at-home mothers who breathed a sigh of reduction after they realized they would not be alone with a male employee. Understanding that, and seeing firsthand what a confidence booster equipment restore might be, Sims dedicated to bringing extra ladies into the trade.
The entire equipment restore trade income reached an estimated $6.3 billion in 2023, but ladies make up lower than 3% of dwelling equipment repairers, based on knowledge from ConsumerAffairs.
Sims determined to companion with shelters to develop SSG Equipment Academy and provide a viable profession path to the ladies there. Though there was numerous curiosity, the shelters did not have the funding to again it. So Sims received accepted for grants by means of the Workforce Innovation and Alternative Act (WIOA).
The funding helps low-income, under- or unemployed ladies and men full SSG Equipment Academy’s program and “flip their life round,” Sims says.
SSG Equipment Academy’s courses sometimes enroll eight to 10 college students. The latest course had three ladies in it. Prior to now, Sims typically needed to attend occasions and persuade ladies to come back to the category; now, word-of-mouth helps them discover it themselves, she says.
“ You always need to show your self [as a woman] on this trade.”
Sims seems ahead to seeing much more ladies reap the benefits of SSG Equipment Academy, regardless of the challenges that may include being a lady within the house.
“ You always need to show your self [as a woman] on this trade, and never simply to the shoppers,” Sims says. “You need to show your self to all people that works within the trade.”
Sims can also be excited to see extra individuals throughout the board bounce into the equipment restore trade, noting that studying a commerce can assist individuals earn more money than they could by means of incomes a four-year faculty diploma.
“Equipment restore can actually assist change individuals’s lives,” the founder says.
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“You need to study your craft from the within out.”
To different ladies eager about beginning their very own careers or companies within the equipment restore trade, Sims has some simple however important recommendation: Enroll in a program that may enable you study all it is advisable know concerning the commerce.
“You need to study your craft from the within out,” Sims says. “A number of technicians within the discipline now study on the job, so that they turn out to be part-changers as a result of they do not learn to diagnose and troubleshoot the home equipment correctly. So my recommendation would undoubtedly be to take a category. It would not need to be my faculty — any faculty.”
Sims notes that there will likely be loads of obstacles alongside the best way, however she encourages anybody eager about studying equipment restore to remain the course — as a result of “it is a very rewarding profession and enterprise.”
This text is a part of our ongoing Ladies Entrepreneur® collection highlighting the tales, challenges and triumphs of working a enterprise as a lady.
Moniqueca Sims, proprietor of SSG Equipment Academy, received her first glimpse into the equipment restore trade whereas courting a person who labored within the house. “He labored on a regular basis, seven days per week,” Sims recollects, “so I used to exit with him simply to spend time with him. I noticed how straightforward it was for him to restore these home equipment, and he was repairing them shortly.”
Picture Credit score: Courtesy of SSG Equipment Academy. Moniqueca Sims.
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