Independence the spur

Press, 5 June 1982, Page 19

Independence the spur

By

What drives a person to forsake the' securitv of a

permanent job. of a firm's superannuation: to abandon the companionship of fellow workers to risk it alone in founding a new small business alone?

In the case of Bob Mitchell, it is not the dream of riches, but the chance lor independence. "You don't have to punch the time clock." he said as he worked at his bench in his small workshop in St Asaph Street. Christchurch.

The workshop is 'fairly bare, a radio, playing all day. his only company apart from the occasional customer.

.Aged 29. Bob Mitchell served his apprenticeship as a panelbeater. worked overseas for a while, and then returned to Christchurch to work at Firestone.

He was in a panel-beating shop when a salesman called, and the snatches of talk about a new system for welding plastic fused into an idea lor a' business.

"It was being sold for repairing grilles, but everything I saw around me seemed to be plastic." he recalls. Now Bob Mitchell has been in business for more than a year, trading as Laser Craft. He welds plastic, repairing car grilles, battery cases, motor-cycle mudguards. and sometimes interior parts of vehicles. He has made items such as fish crates.

The. welder comprises an air compressor and an electronic handgun with an element which heats the air forced over it to 260 deg. melting the plastic. A rod of plastic replaces the metal filler rod used in traditional welding. On cooling, the join is sanded and painted. The plant cost him about $lOOO. and he was lucky to find a suitable workshop at a reasonable rental, and even luckier because it is beside a traditional panel-beating shop. It is here that Bob Mitchell finds some of the companionship most people need at work. He has morning and afternoon tea with the men next door — a break from the pop. jingles, and patter of the radio. When Laser Craft opened for business in February. 1981, as well as the plant, there were the costs of the telephone, of as much adver-

NEILL BIRSS

Another possibility is making cabinets for electronics enthusiasts: something to house the alarms, light dimmers, and myriad more sophisticated devices they make from circuit boards, chips, transistors, and resistors.

He has been making up car grilles to hold as stock and sell: this work has been useful tor lulls in demand, but now he has enough of his capital in them. A number of panel-beaters have plastic welding plants, too. but sometimes they still send work to Laser Craft, and help in other ways b.v passing on grilles they consider damaged beyond repair. From these. Bob will sometimes be able to make a new. composite grille. When business expands. Bob would like to go to America for new ideas on plastics, so that he can expand the business some more.

"I'm not doing it to get rich. I'm doing it in the hope of building up to a comfortable living, with freedom and a sense of achievement.

"It's a good feeling to start something new," he said, adding that he hoped some day to be able to employ others, "and new jobs help everyone."

tising as he could afford, and the working loss he expected to make in the early stages of the business.

After allowing for his wages, there was indeed a loss in the first year, but he expects to break even this year.

The new businessman had to front up to asking slow payers for their money and to standing his ground when a customer quibbles about a bill that has been fairly costed.

But these problems do not preoccupy Bob Mitchell as he works away on his own. nor does the possibility that something could happen to put break-even a little further a wav.

"What I need is a new type of work." he says. He approached the Christchurch City Council small business scheme for ideas after reading about it on these pages, and he is constantly seeking inspiration.

He recently used his skills to repair the'cabinets of two yachts' refrigerators, and thinks there may be future business for him in this line.