Accidental Entrepreneur?? [Part 1]

How did I end up starting my own business?

I have spent the past 12 years since college mostly working as a mechanical engineer in various industries such as automation, manufacturing, product development and even some reverse engineering. In 2016 I was working at GM and started a professional meetup called Mi3D focused on 3D printing to start but then it became a tech meetup showcasing cool people doing cool things. I didn't really see a future for me at GM in the halls of cubicles and when a unique opportunity arrived at Muskegon Community College to startup and manage the Lakeshore Fab Lab (a community makerspace). I remember being so scared about taking a job in education. Salary cut in half. 12 minute drive became 45 minutes. So many unknowns with the job. What would I even have to do as a fab lab manager? I remember sitting in our apartment at the time the day before I had to decide if I was taking the job and I had papers strewn all over the bed like I was trying to solve a murder. I calculated how the salary cut would affect paying off student loans. I had pros and cons lists. It was honestly pure chaos and I'm sad I can't find a picture of it. I thought if I put some data to my decision it would make it easier. It did not. Ultimately I ended up taking on the job with nothing but a gut feeling and a desire to expand my knowledge/experience with something different.

This led me to the best job I have ever had managing the Lakeshore Fab Lab. Managing a makerspace doesn't come without its challenges however! Luckily I built up a team of volunteers that helped me with everything from data entry, cleaning up the shop or helping me wrangle a classroom full of kids.

Picture of mostly empty fab lab

Roland Vinyl Printer still wrapped, 3D printers getting setup

High end Stratasys 3D printers packaged

This wasn't my first time working at Perception Engineering, when my friend Stephen started the company I helped out for a few years on and off as a contract employee helping with various design projects.

                     

Me working at PE's 1st office space

 

Well so there I was a new job. I was back in a cubicle baby! I had dependable hours! I had money! I was getting in the groove of things of being back in an office! Water cooler talk? Check! 2pm weather chit chat? Double check! I went in, did my job and went home without any baggage or things I needed to work on!

Back in an office doing CAD

 

The small team at PE

 

A week or two into my being back in an office my friend who started the company stopped being around much. I know he had another company he was just getting going so I didn't think much at first but then I saw an email from one of our customers congratulating the new owner of PE. I thought OK well this is a bit weird because I thought I was joining my friend's business, we grabbed a beer to chat within the week at our usual spot Trail Point. We chatted and all was good, I was just mostly confused. I was still loving my office job life thus far!

A few months go by and we're into summer. Guess what? I have Saturdays off since I don't have to work at the Fab Lab! I keep checking in on my Fab Lab family and helping out where I can because it was my baby! I got a new car (my 1st ever car payment), I figured I would pay it off in no time! I deserved a nice car! I was driving a 2004 Pontiac Vibe, which I did love! But I love AC more!

One of my contacts in the education space reaches out and asks me if we would want to setup and talk to kids about what we do. I am all in! I get the new PE owner Scott in on it and we attend an event at GVSU interacting with kids for half the day. This is where the chink in the armor starts to show. I realize that after that event, I have not been happy at my new role. I start really looking inside, doing some soul searching to see if its just nerves, maybe its just such a huge change for me that it will take some getting used to. I really try to focus and find things about the new role I can latch onto. I can't figure out if its me not belonging and needing to adapt or what. I have been out of the traditional engineering game for about 6 years or so.

Table setup at GVSU STEM event

Ultimately I talk it over with my wife, she can already see how unhappy I was in my new role. She tells me to do what feels right, so I draft up my resignation letter. So here I am 3 or 4 months into my new role that I left an amazing role for and I'm quitting it. Part of me thought about reaching out to MCC and seeing if they would bring me back on. I REALLLY debated this. A lot more soul searching and I decide to not beg for my old job back lol. The Fab Lab and MCC needed to be able to figure it out without me at the helm if it was to survive on its own. There's a saying: "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it's yours; if it doesn’t, it never was." I think it applies here... but hey, I'm an engineer, not an English major! :)

So I give my two weeks notice without any plan. I started looking and applying for jobs. I tap into my network and I get some interviews scheduled. With some I even have 2nd or 3rd interviews but nothing sticks. I looked for about 2 months without getting too discouraged but then it started to get me depressed and down right angry. I am a delightful person with a diverse background!? What is going on!?! Sure.... I was being picky and not just applying to ANY and ALL jobs. I did leave 2 jobs in the same year after all.... I wanted the next one to stick!

Then out of nowhere, an old co-worker from MCC reaches out to me asking if I would be interested in helping him out as a consultant at a company on the lakeshore. Well its something! So I sit down with him and the owner of the company, my friend Tom has been helping them for a few months before inviting me to join. They needed some engineering support and some training services. For starters, they have an old Gerber CNC that has sat idle for years without much use. Project 1 was getting it running, changing the software from something that is 20 years old and making the machine useful again.

Gerber Sabre CNC at Whitehall Products

Part 2..... coming