Last year my life changed in a way I could never see happening. After experiencing the horror show of the birth of my youngest son which went very very badly, I was later diagnosed with PTSD. I went from felling I could take on the world to not wanting to leave my house. I had to leave my job as a locomotive engineer as I couldn't concentrate on anything and would go into my own world for minutes at a time. Not the best way to be with loco's moving around a depot. So as I started to see improvements in myself I started to fix up some old tools I had lieing about, a stihl saw, a mixer and a breaker. As I sold the first tool, the customer asked me "so do you do this for a living?" I didn't say anything for what seemed like a life time. Then told him the truth. I told a complete stranger everything that happened and how it effected me and it felt great. Then seconds later he told me his story. His version. His life event that knocked him for 6. And you could see it meant the world to him to talk about it. Every other week this man now stops by for a coffee and a catch up which we both gain from greatly. It's hard to talk to people, especially when you need too. But when someone is willing to put themselves out there. Nine times out of ten, the other person will open up too. The amount of people I have been talking to since that first customer is insane. Properly taking about things they don't talk to with there friends they have known for years. So what I want to do is be able to do this full time. I don't want to build a business to earn a fortune. I want the business of restoring and repairing tools, to be able to pay me a reasonable wage 60% of what I was earing previously and have enough profit to fund a social hub for men that need to talk. Just a social judge free space in the upstairs of my industrial unit. I'm not a therapist or a crisis worker. However I'm there to start a conversation, and show people that they aren't alone. Some any people struggle in silence not knowing others around them feel the same. It's OK to talk. It's OK to take medication. It's OK not to be OK.
The business model is simply by tools and machines in cheap and sell them for profit. Iv previously done, plate compactors, stihl saws, fork lifts, mixers, scissor lifts, breakers, diggers and dumpers. Having an extra cash boost into the business would allow me to by a bigger variety of tools at the same time which would increase sales and intern increase the amount of people I come into contact with in a casual manner.