| If you haven't yet locked your keys inside your car, | | | | dreamt of being involved with locks, car openings or |
| you will someday. The odds are heavily against you, | | | | keys. I was in dire straights, having just lost most |
| because this is one of the most common slip-ups to | | | | everything I owned through a business failure that |
| haunt the civilized world. Personally I've done it no less | | | | occurred as collateral damage from a divorce. |
| than ten times myself over a period of, say, twenty | | | | Someone suggested I go door to door and sell "door |
| years...and I'm a Locksmith! | | | | viewers" -- those little peepholes people put in their |
| Now, how can you turn this into a benefit? | | | | front doors. This actually worked well, but only |
| If you happen to be looking for a high profit, super | | | | because at that time I had no bills (everything got |
| interesting career you could do a lot worse than to | | | | disposed of). After a while I was being asked to install |
| consider becoming a Lockout Specialist. I know | | | | locks. I started doing that and was buying deadbolts at |
| whereof I speak, because as a working Locksmith | | | | a local Locksmith shop one day when the guy behind |
| since 1983 I've opened (literally) countless vehicles and | | | | the counter, who by then had gotten to know me, |
| I've had many instances where I made upwards of | | | | suggested I start a Locksmith business. I thought he |
| $200 per hour over several hours at a time. I can recall | | | | was kidding me, seriously. But he told me that |
| one incredible day in which I serviced twenty-three | | | | Locksmiths make incredible profit from most |
| lockouts, at an average price of $40 and an average | | | | everything they do, especially doing lockouts. He sold |
| labor time of 10 minutes per vehicle -- for most of a | | | | me a few tools -- which in Utah is perfectly legal (or |
| day. This was near Christmas in 1995, in Salt Lake City, | | | | was at that time at least) -- and also a small book on |
| Utah. I was self-employed and doing very well as a full | | | | opening cars. |
| service Locksmith, but the bulk of my business during | | | | That was a turning point in my life. I went on, within six |
| Holidays has always been in the form of lockouts. | | | | months, to taking on small Locksmith jobs and teaching |
| It is important to make a distinction here, to avoid | | | | myself. I put a small ad in the Yellow Pages, hoping |
| confusion. I am not proposing that you will make that | | | | against hope I wouldn't go bust in the first few months |
| kind of money day after day. There will be average | | | | because those ads can't be canceled, and I soon |
| days, and there will be busy days. But if you set up a | | | | realized there was enough business out there that I |
| business, in a fairly large city or base yourself at least | | | | was opening cars almost every day. I got better at it |
| near one, you stand to make unconscionably easy | | | | the more I did it (there were nightmare jobs in which it |
| money once you get settled in and your business | | | | took me hours to open a single car, but that was in the |
| becomes visible. Opening locked cars is as easy a | | | | very early days). Eventually the calls started coming in |
| profession as ever has been conceived. It takes some | | | | quite regularly and I started making good money, doing |
| skill, of course, and you will have to do some studying | | | | something I enjoyed. The feeling of helping others who |
| before you break out the lockout tools and advertise | | | | really need your specialized service is a great one, and |
| yourself -- but compared to many other professions it | | | | knowing you are working for yourself and no one else |
| just can't be beat for simplicity. You will also have to | | | | is beyond description. |
| do some homework with respect to legality. Some | | | | I had to do all this without a road map. There was |
| states require Lockout Specialists to be registered | | | | nothing available to beginners in those days, not like |
| Locksmiths, but most do not! This is something you | | | | there is today. The explosion of information that is the |
| have to determine before you take another step. | | | | Internet has made all the difference. I wish back in 1983 |
| If you find that you are living in a jurisdiction that | | | | I'd had the advantages available to career seekers |
| requires registering, it is not that difficult to do. You will | | | | today. There are many self-help manuals and DVD |
| have to gain a wider knowledge of Locksmithing, but | | | | courses now that can teach you to set up a Lockout |
| this certainly is not a detriment as it will likely lead to a | | | | Specialist business, or a full-fledged Locksmith business. |
| fantastic career that goes well beyond opening locked | | | | The prices are surprisingly affordable, and the |
| mini-vans. If on the other hand you are fortunate | | | | information in at least some of them is staggering. In |
| enough to be living in an area in which Lockout | | | | many cases, you can actually earn certification by |
| Specialists can be licensed without having to be | | | | purchasing one of these courses. |
| full-fledged Locksmiths, the path to a cushy career | | | | It is worth considering if you like the idea of working for |
| sprawls before you. | | | | ten minutes, assisting a motorist in need, and putting up |
| I started my business in Salt Lake City when I was 37 | | | | to $50 or $60 dollars in your pocket for your trouble. |
| years of age. Up until then I had never so much as | | | | |