About Dan of HandyDan

As one of four boys (the youngest) raised by a single mother in rural Wyoming, my brothers and I were "the men of the house" and we prided ourselves on taking care of household projects, maintenance and honey-do lists. Our mom worked hard for us and we tried to work just as hard for her. I was blessed enough to have 3 father-figures in my brothers and they all brought different strengths to the table. For context they grew up to be a pipeline welder/entrepreneur; a HS wood-shop teacher/football coach; and a DoD senior project manager.  We rarely knew what we were doing when we started a project, but we quickly learned to figure it out, WITHOUT the internet!! From an early age, I realized that the skill of looking at a system, figuring out how it works and whats making it NOT work is useful in basically every facet of my life. I also learned to embrace the fails as much as the wins for the sheer amount on knowledge gained. As far as I was concerned, the only failure was not doing something. Did I learn some hard lessons and have the scars to celebrate? Hooboy, oh yeah! I have always held on to that thirst for knowledge and desire to know how and why the cogs and gears turn.

After graduating, and marrying my high school sweetheart when we were both 19 years old I worked as a flooring installer while also cooking in 2 restaurants. I also occasionally helped my father-in-law install satellite dishes. Hard work has always been in my blood.  Then I spent 7 years as a fiber-optic inspector for new network construction. This took my wife and I all over the continental US. We have been to 44 of the 50 states. After all that travel, we returned to WY to start our family. I worked as a utility locator marking underground cable for the local Electrical, and tellecom utilities. Shortly after our first son was born I accepted an entry level position as a mechanic in a Naval Shipyard in Bremerton WA. I was accepted to the apprenticeship there and within 7 years I had become a Production Supervisor in charge of special project work dealing with Naval Nuclear Propulsion of both submarines and aircraft carriers. During some of this work, I was in charge of building training simulators, or mock-ups, of various ships components and spaces so that our teams could perform training for upcoming projects. I have built life-sized submarine sections out  of plywood, steel and 3D printed items. I then spent a year as a 2nd level manager overseeing the submarine recycling program, and then later as a process improvement/LEAN Leader. After having 2 more boys and leaving the shipyard, I spent time in the manufacturing sector as a production supervisor and then a LEAN Coordinator/process improvement officer. During this time I was doing rapid prototyping and building modular equipment, "just-do-its", and just about anything else that was needed on the production floor. It was after a handful of production associates had approached me to help with their home projects after work that I seriously started to entertain the idea of becoming a handyman. I had fallen back in love with designing and building things that people needed, I thrived on problem solving and building  things with a craftsman's eye. While considering the pros and cons of venturing out on my own to follow the dream of helping folks while doing what I love, I learned that my position was being dissolved and I was in the first round of what would be 3 total rounds of layoffs as a Covid ripple effect. Instead of being upset, A wave of relief washed over me and it felt as though God had whispered in my ear and gave me the final push. within weeks I was a Dan with a plan and felt as ready as I'd ever be.

Now my days are filled with doing what I love to support those I love. I get to volunteer my time at my church building Christmas displays as well as furniture and fixtures for the stage/back stage. I can use my skills to help clients reclaim some valuable time by taking those tasks off of their hands and off of their minds so that they can live life, not worry about it.