Once you graduate high school, it’s your responsibility to figure out how to do life, but you shouldn’t be going into it blind. High school is meant to be a place where you get all the help you need in order to move on into college or wherever you may be going. When you walk out of your parents house and into your college dorm, or your own place, you’re going to want to have an idea of what you plan to pursue. My hope is that reading about these professions will help not only myself, but all of those people out there who are searching for their calling.
In some cases, those who worked their way up to a certain position still feel like they don’t know what they want to do. This is the case for Jason Johnston, the owner of Carpet Creations, a flooring company in O’Fallon. Johnston has been building Carpet Creations going on 24 years spending almost all of his life getting more business to his company. He originally worked in a factory, after having worked there for a while he knew it wasn’t what he wanted.
“I knew that I did not want to do that for the rest of my life,” Johnston said. “That was pretty mindless, dirty and just boring.” Johnston prefers a hands-on job, something where he can learn by experience and example. If you can’t see yourself living at a desk and prefer to be moving all day. In this profession, Johnston says, “You get freedom to come and go as you please, the customer relationship is awesome, you get to meet new people everyday.”
Owning a business is time consuming and can be highly stressful. In order to keep on track, Johnston tries to live his work life on a daily-based schedule.
“Just trying to keep that schedule is probably the most stressful part,” he said. Making sure that the projects, shipments and other tasks aren’t falling behind or being forgotten. On top of that, owning a business also puts you in charge of the people who work there. Johnston has to make sure that his guys are doing what they are supposed to be doing and are up to date with the latest skills in flooring.
Every morning when he goes into work, he opens it up and gets his guys ready to head out to a job. Johnston says that the most rewarding part of his job is, “working very hard into a project that could’ve been something that these people could have saved for like 15 years and you get the satisfaction of completing it for them and whenever its done its a very good feeling to see them happy with your project and how it comes out.”
Being the owner of a small flooring business comes with experience and a lot of knowledge of the trade. Johnston is constantly learning. He states that, “Seems like our trade is changing every 5-10 years, it’s something new. You are constantly learning, whether it’s on a computer or new tools. Different techniques. Out in the field, you gotta pass on to your guys, you gotta be able to talk to the people and communicate what you want and stay organized.”
Johnston is constantly working to go further and gain more knowledge of his field. No matter how organized one is, there will always be mistakes. You will make many mistakes in the course of your life, not just in your career path. Johnston says that in his experience with owning a business, you are going to make mistakes, the important part is that you learn from them.
Generally speaking, you want to work to live; not live to work. The hope is that one’s job won’t take up their entire life, that working wouldn’t be the only thing you think about. Johnston struggled with this during the beginning of Carpet Creations, after having worked with it for 24 years he found a system that works for him and his family.
“Once I am off I am off, I don’t answer emails or phone calls or even think about work until the next day,” he said. “And that was definitely a change in mind, because prior to that 24/7 I was always thinking how to get more business and keep going. It wears on you.”
His advice to those wanting to own a business, or even work for a flooring company, is to put your family first. His advice is to “enjoy that time with your family and don’t chase the dollar because your kids grow up fast and you are going to wind up missing a lot if you do that.” Very important life advice, something that people tend to forget when they are trying to make money. Being an entrepreneur is a demanding job, it isn’t something you just pick up and know how to do. There are trials and errors, learning curves. Johnston said to those that are just starting out, “Have a good team around you of like minded people and just try to run with it.”
Perhaps owning a business is something that you want to do when you graduate, or if you have graduated it might be your dream and what you are working towards. Choosing a career path can be one of the most difficult things, or one of the easiest. High school is the place to begin that search, to get the help and advice from those around you. Even if you don’t go to college after, there are life lessons riddled throughout your high school experience. Jason Johnston built his own business, made it a success and has been running it for over 20 years.
