One of the things you can count on is business and life. for that matter, is that stuff is going to break. Maybe your packaging machine isn’t sealing. Maybe you clothes dryer doesn’t get hot or maybe your car started making a bad noise. We have all had things like this happen. I have had these specific things happen among many others in my years as an entrepreneur.
I have worked hard at becoming mechanically inclined, mostly out of necessity. I remember my brother in law showing me how to change the brake pads on my first car when I was just 19. I remember my brother meticulously explaining every detail of what does what rebuilding a motor. From these base experiences I have developed the ability to understand how things work and I am not afraid to tackle a project. In fact I get super excited if I get to buy a new tool!
I was not always this way and I am telling you it is something you can learn. If you are flush with cash and investors well then you get the luxury of operating a tool I do not get to use often and it actually grinds me when I have to. People with the cash get to use their checkbook. It is a very powerful and efficient tool no doubt. Bootstappers like me do not have this tool in our toolboxes.
We instead rely on ourselves to make things happen and get things fixed. If you are not handy you better get handy or you will be using cash for emergencies instead of expanding or buying product or even a new piece of equipment.
Seriously when I look at a repair, even if I have the ability to take care of it myself I think about what I could have done positively with that money. 
I just spent $200 fixing the exhaust on my car today. Even though I saved another $215 doing it myself I can’t help but think about POS or promotional material I could have bought.
Now there is another tool an entrepreneur can use if they are not super handy and are bootstapping it as well. This is one of my favorite methods because it seem to be a forgotten yet valuable tool. The tool we all have in our toolbox is the barter! I will give you a great example. Last year a friend on Facebook posted about an unforeseen car repair that was going to cost them over $700. I know this family is in no position to spend this kind of money and I had a pretty good suspicion that they were not very car savvy. I was actually able to help them out using parts from a junkyard and did the repair for $100 in parts. Now, the wife was a photographer and I just so happened to need a photo shoot and editing done for the Eve’s Apple Pie label. Do you think she was happy to exchange services? You bet, and we both won!
Bootstrapping entrepreneurs have to be creative, handy, frugal and many other things out of necessity. Being mechanically inclined is a very valuable tool and you should know that it can be learned. The next time you are going to throw something out, grab a screwdriver and tear it open to see how it works. When something breaks, spend some time online, in forums and on youtube. We live in an amazing time where information is at your fingertips for FREE and a lot of the times you can even find videos on how to do something step by step.
I have found videos on replacing a magnetron in a microwave, replacing a heater element in a dryer, and replacing an internal gear in a 4 wheel drive actuator in a BMW SUV just to name a few and I have saved over $2000 on just those 3 things. $2,000 is a lot of money to me. How about you?
Do yourself a favor and Get Handy!
365 Days To My First Million. 