Grandpa taught us everything he knew, which was about 5 decades worth of knowledge.
We interned for him for a long time, starting when we were 16.
The time he retired and went down south, grandpa handed us his customer contacts. We were young, untested, but knew as much as anybody inside of 200 miles. Grandpa had loyal clients because he had no competition, although he was still unregistered and off the books in terms of being a legitimate company. In other words, we worked for cash only, no credit, no paper trail, and no taxes! The fact that we were now the only Heating, Ventilation and A/C repair mechanics in this section kept us on our feet, although we had to constantly keep quiet. We couldn’t advertise, you understand, because we weren’t collecting taxes or paying insurance for any of our Heating, Ventilation and A/C toils. Believe us, there was no shortage of work, mostly from heating and ventilation systems in barns and livestock pens than in residentials. There were honestly fewer calls for AC repairs. The ones we got were usually for the window mounted units. Because of harsh and long winters in the area, all the farmers needed a reliable heating unit for themselves and their livestock. The furnaces in a barn are honestly simple, however they need to be in good condition and above all else safe, because if there is a fire then it will burn down the barn and everything in it. To date, none of our clients mind that the Heating, Ventilation and A/C company is off the books, in fact we believe they love it that way.