Do you have a marketable skill?

This is important regardless of the situation, but one thing that would be very valuable after an economic collapse, would be to have a skill that could be used for barter. Can you build things, can you sew, can you cook, can you cut hair? Or maybe you have even a more specialized skill? It may be the thing that gets you through the toughest of times. A very valuable asset.

 

I don't know how marketable any of those skills are but I'm a swiss army knife when it comes to housing and technology. I know how to fix most of the problems you can encounter in your house and I have a wide variety of skills like plumbing, building, cooking, carpenting, building a fountain, pavement and the list goes on and on. I'm also a decent hunter and a great fisherman.

 

Will you marry me?? lol

 

Marketable skills, eh? I suppose being a language teacher and dancer, as well as a nutritionist and bartender could come in handy with the collapse of civilization...
I mean, we could all use a drink and some entertainment when that happens haha.

 

I am so glad that you mentioned cutting hair because I am a cosmetology student. In a time of crisis, I would be able to offer people a break from time to time. I can cut hair, provide nail services, color hair, and perform massage and facials. I'd like to think that these skills are useful when it comes to people needing to take a step back from the crisis. I wouldn't mind offering these services to people during a disaster. It's somewhat therapeutic for me, releasing tension from others.

 

I think my most marketable skill will be letting one live, payment will be variable!

 

For 33 years I was a paramedic, ground ambulance, bike squad special events and flight medic. Minor and major trauma, medical emergencies with appropriate drug administration and my least favourite.....child birth!

 

I used to think that most people have many useful skills that will come in handy in and out of bad times.

Then I started meeting people with no clue about much of anything - simple things like wall switch cover replacement (not kidding), minor skills like patching a hole in the wall, changing belts on cars or other equipment, plumbing repairs/replacement, changing brake pads. Today's society tends to call repairmen or simply buy a replacement.

 

I am a bit of the old world Jack of all trades and have made a living doing all manner of skilled and on occasion unskilled trades. I am and have worked professionally in no special order a carpenter, a roofer, a mechanic, a machinist, a gunsmith, an electrician, a plumber, a licensed AC/Heater tech, a welder, a painter, a writer, a poet, a pool hustler, a bouncer... For the last 25 years I've owned and operated an appliance/AC and home repair business. For hobbies I reload, do leather work, braiding in paracord and leather, Garden, Remodeling, wood carving, Indian bead work, hunting (but seldom killing), fishing, camping, sewing (canvass and leather stuff mostly). I am also a bit of a chemist and mad scientist in some areas not all of which were always strictly legal. (NEVER DRUGS!) I can make three different kinds of gunpowder and other such chemically based creations. No warm blooded critters 2 legged or 4 legged have ever been harmed by my experiments I just liked loud bangs and sometimes home made booze when I was a kid.

I have three separate buildings for the various crafts. One has a metal lathe, milling machine, drill press, stick welder, wire fed tig welder and Ox& Acetylene tanks. I also have a wood working machines, table saw, band saw, compound slid miter saw, wood lathe and various grinders and belt type sanding,grinding machines. A separate building is for reloading, leather work, wood carving, rod wrapping and fly tying type things. My wife has her own shop for painting and craft items. Along with the three shops I have two pole buildings for mech work and outdoor work.. I'm thinking about a forge for knife making. In the past I have made a lot of knives but not from the forge.

I like working with my hands and always have. I guess I'm just a blue collar type and don't like offices. I picked up trades without much effort mostly because I have a sort of trick memory in that if you show me something once I usually have it and while I don't have a lot of formal education I am sharp and can learn or figure out almost anything with books. I am self-educated and self taught from hands on learning. I have always loved puzzles so for me a non-functioning machine is just a pretty easy puzzle. My company fixed anything in the home, office, motels and restaurants along with occasional runs at a few bigger things. I literally can repair almost anything except really small engines. They just don't like me and it is mutual. Chain saws and weed-eaters.....GRRRRRR!!! LOL.

I can, and have the equipment to can my produce and smoke my own meats and was raised country poor and can process animals of all kinds from rabbits and squirrels through chickens, pigs and cattle.

I'm pretty lucky. I like what I do and while far from rich in the things that most people like to acquire I have the things that I value. I currently own 4 vehicles, 2 trucks, a small SUV and a car. All run well but are over 10 years old. I don't own anything with less than 125,00 miles on it. My work truck is past 250,000. Fancy cars don't excite me. big houses aren't my thing. nor are clothes and jewelry. My money is in tools and big boy toys like boats, guns and machines. My time for most of my life has been spent making and fixing things both for a living and pleasure. I don't watch a lot of TV but do seem to spend a lot of time on this lap top. I guess my OCD about tools and crafts is also in my info gathering. I'm an info junkie both in paper form and online.

I would be pretty handy after an apocalypse Even if I lost my tools the knowledge is still there and that is all that is irreplaceable.

 

Wonderful day today!
Had a 24vdc bus with a flat battery(s) two young adults with two 4wd vehicles and no idea how to start the bus!

I bet them $50 each that I could start the bus in under 15 minutes, they took the bet!
I got both 4wd's within jumper lead range disconnected the lead joining the two 12v batteries and hooked both up seperatly to charge each battery!

After 10 minutes on charge I disconnected the jumper leads and reconnected the joining cable and cranked the bus over enough to start it
all in 13 minutes !
I am now $100 richer and they are a little wiser!
Could have done it with just one 4wd but it would have taken longer!

 

24 volt systems are great. It lets you use smaller wire without giving up wattage power. I used to have a 24 volt trolling motor and charged it up that same way. It is usually faster than using a single 24 volt charger. Good one! KNOWLEDGE is a powerful thing. They had the tools but YOU had the knowledge! That is priceless. Without your knowledge they had nothing.