It's not everyday that you may ponder such a question. In fact, I bet more people spend more time expressing feelings of distaste more so than appreciation towards their job. In today's economy, most of us are lucky to even have one. Businesses have scaled back so much, that most likely your job of one title has turned into having to do the duties of four people, making it that much more difficult to keep a positive frame of mind towards your work. Not to mention the fact that most people who have been working for 30 - 40 years are working for less money than they were in the 70's (by comparison of today's value of a dollar).
Back to the challenge at hand.
I asked Dan to tell me five things he loves about his job. At first he laughed, thinking I was joking. Then when he saw my face while I waited for his answer, he began listing some things off:
1. "I love that we're manufacturers."
What we're able to do as a company is take a "raw" product and make it into a usable piece. Different jobs that exemplify a manufacturer's work would be carpet base jobs, or even custom shapes and sizes.
2. "I love that we're environmentalists."
Dan rarely lets anything go into the dumpster. When there are scrap pieces left over from a job, DWP Carpet Binding saves them to use for future pieces. This is how we were able to design and fabricate so many custom area rugs. You can check them out on our etsy page!
Etsy Store!
3. "I love our customers."
Dan has been in the flooring industry for quite some time now (over 20 years!). As a salesman it took charisma and intelligence to gain a customer's attention. However, it was through being himself and his lovable personality that gained him respect. Over the years, Dan not only was able to establish business relationships, but he was also able to establish friendships with most of his customers. Anybody can give you a song and a dance, but Dan will give them to you to his own tune!
4. "I love the hands-on work."
Dan's father was a potato farmer. Dan jokes around that his father's options were to "work in the field" or "get the belt and then go work on the field". It was the farmer's ethics of work that influences Dan to this very day. Sure, it may be tough on the body on occasion, but it sure beats sitting at a desk day-in and day-out.
Between you and me, Dan isn't capable of doing nothing. He's constantly got to occupy himself with some sort of work.
5. "I love the excitement of potential business; there's no predictability to our day."
This is very true. There isn't one day that goes by that is the same as the previous day. Every day we meet new faces, face new challenges and have different tasks. One day it could be 3,000 linear feet of carpet base, the next day it could be serging three area rugs. Every carpet requires different attention, which is exactly why no day is the same. Again, it is far different from sitting in front of a computer day-in and day-out.
Now, it wouldn't be fair for me to challenge Dan with the question "What do you love about your job?" without having to also answer it! So here are five reasons that I love my job:
1. My boss is an honest, hard-working and caring man.
I'm not working for some multimillionaire that only cares about reaching his next million. I'm working for a man who isn't afraid to get on his hands and knees to cut a carpet, or thinks he is above taking out the garbage. He has taught me a great deal when it comes to work ethic, simply by observing his daily actions.
2. I get to do whatever I want.
It may sound immature, but I assure you that I am always completing one task or another. When your job tasks include inventory, e-mails, web-site building, writing blogs, price quotes as well as the binding labor it is very easy to lose track of what you're doing. Yet, to keep my attention at focus, I mix my day up. A little bit of binding here, doing e-mail marketing there, writing a blog every so often. Dan trusts that I am a diligent worker and allows me free reign of my work day; as long as I get all tasks completed by the end of the day.
3. I love that I learned a useful trade.
It's not everyday that a young person gets offered to train for and learn a trade. In fact, many people my age or younger have been told they'll spend the majority of their life in front of computer. I am happy to say that is not the case where I am concerned. My day is spent with sewing machines! By learning the carpet binding trade, I've also become familiar with sewing machines, that I can fix and run just about any model. I even asked for my own sewing machine a couple of Christmases ago and have created special items or repaired favorite articles of clothing. When my hands become too tired/weak to work with carpets, I can move on to cloth!
4. I love that I've learned to make custom carpets.
One of DWP Carpet Binding's customers is a man named Bill Craig. He makes custom carpets... really really beautiful custom carpets. I've had the special honor and privilege of learning new tricks every time he comes in to see us. After about six years (plus or minus a few months) I am now contracted to do custom pieces; or have the honor of gifting custom pieces for special events, such as weddings and birthdays!
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| First custom piece ever made: free-hand heart. Clearly, I needed more practice! |
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| Samples I made to show the differences between serging, polyester binding and cotton binding. |
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| Latest custom piece: for Mackenzie's bedroom. My abilities have certainly developed! |
5. I love that my hard work and dedication is going towards my parents' retirement.
I stated before how my boss is pretty awesome. Yet, my job is more valuable because this business will be the allowance to my parents' retirement. Granted, Dan's hard work in customer service is what grew the business to make it as successful as it is today; it'll be my hard work and diligence that continues to keep this business running! There will come a day that I will call the shots and get to tell Dan, "Don't worry about coming into the office today, everything is taken care of". Which will be the day that I will certainly admit being proud of what DWP Carpet Binding has allotted for. Working for family is far more valuable to me than climbing the ladder in a corporation or "Big Business".
So on this Valentine's Day, I challenge you to think outside of the commercialized box. Instead of showering your loved ones with chocolates, flowers and "I love you's"; why not give yourself a gift and remember a few reasons why you LOVE your job?!
Happy Valentine's Day!
-The Team of DWP Carpet Binding
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