My aunt Gladys taught me all she knew, which was so much.
I worked for her for many years, starting when I was 15.
When she retired and went down south she handed me her client list. I was young, not too experienced, but I knew as much as anybody inside of 100 miles! Aunt Gladys had loyal clients because she had no competition. But, she was still unregistered and off the books in terms of being a legal business. This meant I worked for money only, no credit, no paper trail, and no taxes! The fact that I was now the only Heating and A/C maintenance worker in this section kept me busy, but I had to be silent. There was no advertising, you understand, because I wasn’t collecting taxes or paying insurance for any of my Heating and A/C work. But, believe me, there was no shortage of work, mostly from heating and ventilation systems in barns and livestock pens than in homes. There were genuinely few calls for air conditioner work, and the jobs I did get were for the window mounted unit. With winters as bleask and extreme as we got, pretty much everyone needed a reliable heating unit for themselves and their livestock. The gas heating systems in a barn are genuinely simple, however they need to be reliable and above all else safe. If there is a fire then it will bring down the barn and everything in it. So far none of my clients mind that the Heating and A/C corporation is off the books, in fact I guess they appreciate it that way.