03/19/2022
I started 27 years ago as an apprentice for a large locksmith company in New Orleans. Mostly commercial work as well as door replacement and CCTV installation. I then moved up to learn about safes. The company wanted me to stay with this side of locksmithing as sorta a specialist in commercial fire exits etc. It wasn't until 18 years ago when I started my own company that I got to decide what I wanted to work on. So I got into Automotive. After so many years locksmithing you get a knack for everything lock related, including Automotive. I just needed the right equipment. I invested $30K in stock, laser cutting machines, programming machines (I started with 2, now I have 6), and upgrades to my service van for better inverter power.
I would have to say that within the first 2 years it more than paid for itself and it's all profit from then on excluding keys, software updates and misc new Automotive tools found at the many trade shows that I've attended.
After I was 95% confident that I could handle Automotive issues as well as I was with anything commercial, I decided to go full auto and leave commercial on the back burner since the competition is all about commercial and not so much into Automotive. Last thing to say, if I would have known how much easier and how much more money I could make with Automotive, I would have chosen Automotive from day one. Go after the money, it's there just falling out of customer's pockets to get keys made when lost for vehicles, especially since the dealerships and other Automotive locksmiths from other cities charge SO MUCH compared to my more than reasonable prices. And it reflects on the amount of repeat customers and word of mouth free advertising that I get.
My locksmithing days are pretty much over as I have stage 4 small cell lung cancer and only have a year or so to live. In this time I will have to liquidate my company of everything. It was a very enjoyable career and thought I would be doing into my 70s. At 52 this keyman is throwing in the towel. I want to thank all of my customers who a lot of which I have became friends with. This post is not intended as a pity me story, it's my way to say goodbye to the career that brought me challenge and reward. And to show appreciation to all of my loyal customers over the years.
