MAKING a living...

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MAKING a living.

I could have posted this in the work forum, but I’m after a wider selection of opinions, to include those who, having succeeded, don’t need to visit that forum, and the creative who would enjoy considering answering the sentence.

I’m as Aspie who owns an acre of land and a three bay car shed. I’ve been thinking about how I might use those resources to study a craft or skill that will help me fill in the blank in this sentence: 'If I learned ________________, I could make a living out of it.’

Not as easy or obvious as it seems. Some examples:
I considered learning tailoring. I have plenty of time and learning resources are abundant. However, real tailors went out of business around here a long time ago because of the ready availability of cheap, easily replaceable imported clothing. The skill would be fulfilling to learn, but it doesn’t meet the requirements of the second half of the sentence.

Another example is that of a friend who is a cabinet maker. He set up in his shed. Quite skilled, but like so many others in that trade, they either go out of business, or seek employment in larger companies doing chip board pre-fab work.

I’m not considering academic study via a university or college, because I don’t want the debt. Also, I live in a rural environment far from major learning institutions.

The total customer base, casting a wide circle around this part of Tasmania, would be a hundred thousand people.

What practical/manual/creative skills do you feel confident could be learned at home and provide a sufficient income to live off of?

You could always make money doing auto mechanics. You could undersell the garages, and hopefully do a better job than the people in the garages.

Or you could establish your own "help desk" if you're particularly good with computers.

Not good with computers, but like the mechanical idea. Maybe small engines. Pumps are a big deal around here.

If you have manual skill and can learn joinery, there is a real possibility there, particularly if you can establish yourself in a niche as a master craftsman/artisan with an artistic sensibility. In my area, I can think of two master furniture makers operating in this way, though there are many others:
http://www.nakashimawoodworker.com/
http://www.miyashoji.com/
You can't compete with IKEA and China on the low end, so it's better to sell to the high end of the market.

If you can make art objects and market them on the internet, you could sell to a global audience.

That's a different question. There are no guarantees. No guarantees of what you specifically could learn at home and no guarantees of what would deliver a sufficient income to live off of.

Around here, in Northern New Jersey, plumbers always seem to find work and make a decent living. The business seems to allow for a lot of individual quirks, too. People don't care about your personality if you can keep things flowing and prevent leaks. There are some barriers to entry, you need various kinds of state certification and licenses, and there are professional bodies that are wise to join, insurance you have to carry and so on, but managing those things has to be part of your business plan if you want to set up as a plumber.

If you are going to set up your own business, make sure you put as much time into learning how to run the business side of the enterprise as doing the work. Most small business fail because of bad management and poor or nonexistent business plans.

I hope this idea works out for you! It could be a really good life. I sometimes dream about working wood like Nakashima. Maybe it is because of carpentry projects I did as a kid with my dad. It looks like a beautiful and rewarding life, if you can make it work for you.

I am in a similar place. I bought some land way out there and am now realizing that I will live longer then I had planned. I have come to the same conclusion about specialty work. I plan to make high quality wood pieces and sell them to New Yorkers for ridiculous prices. From the times that I have been there, it seems like they throw an awfull lot of money around just for daily things. I'd like to keep hearing other suggestions as I have not done much yet to solve this in my own life.

I know the feeling. I appear to be a skilled musician and sound engineer, but I've yet to find a feasible way of turning it into money, apart from performing at the kind of venues where the customers give me tips, which is almost unheard of where I live (UK), though quite common in the rural areas of the USA, and I got $43 that way for an hour and a half's "work" on the 4th of July while I was on vacation. Overheads were negligible.

I agree that it's usually best to go up-market, though I didn't. That suits the Aspie perfectionist trait, and avoids the common problem of overwhelming competition from the cheap end of the market.

Plumping is another suggestion. Basically, something everyone needs sometimes, that is technical enough that many people can't do it themselves, but not so technical you need a degree for it.