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.
Showing posts with label machine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label machine. Show all posts
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Starting a Drafting Service
Once you receive the necessary education from either a good technical school or from apprenticeship under a professional designer, drafter, architect, or engineer, many people venture out to open their own drafting office. You need to make sure that you have enough training and expertise to go out on your own. Technical drawing is a highly specialized field, and if practiced poorly can injure your reputation as a professional and your personal credibility.
With science and technology the way it is today, very few people complete drawings using a drafting or drawing board, thanks to the advent of computer generated drawings using a CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) program. A well designed CAD program not only makes it easier to open an office but also makes it much less expensive because of their ease of use and accuracy. Most drafting offices can be run out of your living room or den with nothing more than a laptop or desktop computer and a professional CAD program. There are however certain other considerations before going into this type of business.
One of these would be the needed library of reference books that are not available online. This would be books like "Architectural Graphic Standards" or "ANSI Standards for Mechanical Drawing", although certain portions of both of these books are available on line on the Internet. If you are doing architecture, a good selection of plan books would be a handy resource. Not to copy from however, that would be a bad thing, but as a fresh source of ideas you can suggest to your clients.
A good electronic symbols library for your CAD would be great too. This saves time, which is precious by the way, to not have to re-draw the same thing over and over. There are several websites offering them for sale and a few free download sites also.
Another thing would be a web site presence where you can advertise your services and also display drawings at certain stages to your client from the comfort of their home. I've been using this process for at least ten years and the clients love it. They have access to their drawings any time of day or night. And instead of waiting on the mail, the changes you make to their drawings can be reviewed almost instantly after you upload them.
You might also consider talking to your local insurance agent about some sort of malpractice insurance. Better safe than sorry. And with any new businesses it is always good to hire a bookkeeper to help you keep up with your taxes.
If you want to learn to draw mechanical drawings, including survey, and architectural, go to http://maginvent.com and learn online.
With science and technology the way it is today, very few people complete drawings using a drafting or drawing board, thanks to the advent of computer generated drawings using a CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) program. A well designed CAD program not only makes it easier to open an office but also makes it much less expensive because of their ease of use and accuracy. Most drafting offices can be run out of your living room or den with nothing more than a laptop or desktop computer and a professional CAD program. There are however certain other considerations before going into this type of business.
One of these would be the needed library of reference books that are not available online. This would be books like "Architectural Graphic Standards" or "ANSI Standards for Mechanical Drawing", although certain portions of both of these books are available on line on the Internet. If you are doing architecture, a good selection of plan books would be a handy resource. Not to copy from however, that would be a bad thing, but as a fresh source of ideas you can suggest to your clients.
A good electronic symbols library for your CAD would be great too. This saves time, which is precious by the way, to not have to re-draw the same thing over and over. There are several websites offering them for sale and a few free download sites also.
Another thing would be a web site presence where you can advertise your services and also display drawings at certain stages to your client from the comfort of their home. I've been using this process for at least ten years and the clients love it. They have access to their drawings any time of day or night. And instead of waiting on the mail, the changes you make to their drawings can be reviewed almost instantly after you upload them.
You might also consider talking to your local insurance agent about some sort of malpractice insurance. Better safe than sorry. And with any new businesses it is always good to hire a bookkeeper to help you keep up with your taxes.
If you want to learn to draw mechanical drawings, including survey, and architectural, go to http://maginvent.com and learn online.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Draw Your Own House Plans
The concept isn't that difficult although it does take some discipline. If you are wanting to learn to draw house plans, here is what I suggest.
First, learn to sketch and draw on a drafting board. There is a free online course called "Drawing a Simple House Plan" at http://draftingservice.us/101boardlessons/ which leads you through the process of drawing a plan on the board.
After you have completed this primer, "House Plan Drafting 101" at http://homedesign.8m.com is your next step. At this web site, there are two courses in drawing complete house plans. The first teaches you how to draw a single story home using CAD or the board and the next teaches you to draw a two story home.
The author of these three resources has also created other drafting courses. "Mechanical Drafting 101" at http://draftingservice.us/m101/ where you learn to draw shop drawings to create furniture in a wood shop. Then there is the ebook he wrote on "Converting a Barn into a Home" at http://draftingservice.us/barnhomes/.
First, learn to sketch and draw on a drafting board. There is a free online course called "Drawing a Simple House Plan" at http://draftingservice.us/101boardlessons/ which leads you through the process of drawing a plan on the board.
After you have completed this primer, "House Plan Drafting 101" at http://homedesign.8m.com is your next step. At this web site, there are two courses in drawing complete house plans. The first teaches you how to draw a single story home using CAD or the board and the next teaches you to draw a two story home.
The author of these three resources has also created other drafting courses. "Mechanical Drafting 101" at http://draftingservice.us/m101/ where you learn to draw shop drawings to create furniture in a wood shop. Then there is the ebook he wrote on "Converting a Barn into a Home" at http://draftingservice.us/barnhomes/.
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