Drafting as a Second Job

I’m a deputy and chaplain for a local sheriff’s department. I'll probably be in this position until the day I retire, that is if I ever retire. I’m in the position God placed me in and am content with that. However, this job has never been known as a top paying vocation. Sometimes it’s hard to make ends meet with the salary I make.

But the facts are that I love the job I’m doing and finding a job you are content in is rare. I don’t want to give it up. Many of the officers feel the same as I do and take on part time positions or create their own jobs like lawn care or selling insurance, etc. Me? Well, before I put on the badge, I was an architectural designer and general drafter. As a matter of fact, I owned my own drafting service for the better part of fourteen years here in east Tennessee.

More and more people are working two jobs and those extra jobs are getting harder and harder to find. To me, it just doesn’t seem right to waste a skill that I’ve already learned. Better yet, there are enough inexpensive resources online that you could learn this skill on your own and then capitalize on it.

So after I realized it would be hard to make ends meet with just my deputy salary, I started letting others know I was taking on drafting jobs again. Shortly thereafter a few jobs started trickling in and I took on the projects that would only take a short while to complete. Mostly house plans, but I have drawn a few patent drawings and a few prints for machine shops. Many more jobs came in from around the country from the website I put online. The internet is another blessing from God. With the internet you can reach tens of thousands of prospective clients you would have otherwise never been exposed to.

The beauty of drafting is that with the advent of CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) programs, projects take little time to complete because of the control the computer gives you over the subject. What used to take hours to draw now only takes minutes or even seconds to complete.

There is enough work now that I can be picky about what I take in so that I don’t spend more than an hour or two daily so that I can still spend plenty of time with my family. I’ve even trained my wife and daughter to help me with the projects I’m working on. They love participating and helping with this little family business.

Tim Davis has created online drafting courses that will give you the skills to be a drafter in many different fields. Please go to http://maginvent.com for more details.