Rod Knox–my brother has a Ph.D. in English and taught a couple of years in a small state college. When the president of the college told the faculty in a meeting that faculty were a dime a dozen, my brother wrote out his resignation, took it to the president, gave him a dime and said “Go buy a dozen to replace me”. My brother then started working as a techncal writer. He decided he should know something about the law, so he started taking law courses. That turned into a full blown law degree and he then passed the bar exam. He then worked for a law firm trying social security and auto insurance cases. He found that pretty depressing since someone was always trying to rip off someone else. To get out of this, he and a friend bought a plumbing company and they became plumbers. I was with him one time when he received a call and the person on the other end asked his rates. My brother told him the charge for a service call which included the first hour and the hourly labor charge beyond that. The potential customer replied, “I have a master’s degree and I am a manager in my company and I don’t make that kind of money”. My brother replied, “I have a Ph.D. and have been a college professor. I have a law degree and have practiced law. I am now a plumber. This is what I have to charge. You have three choices: 1) you can pay my rates if you want me to do the job; 2) you can try to find a cheaper plumber; 3) you can do the job yourself. You have thirty seconds to make up your mind as I have another call coming in”.
I have a real appreciation for people who can work with their hands and use tools. I only have two tools on my workbench–a sledge hammer and a propane torch. I “repair” things by either beating it to pieces or burning it up. I don’t mind paying the price for someone who can do a job well that I can’t do,