Can I Offer An Apprenticeship?

Many of us have a child who started sweeping the floor and taking out the trash when they’re young, then they started answering the phones, then talking to customers after they learned how; eventually they started doing more and more until one day, you give them your business and couldn’t be more proud of the legacy you’ve created. This heritage of knowledge, this passing along your knowledge to the next generation so they can build upon your lessons is the hope of any parent or business owner. Setting up an apprenticeship is the very same thing. 

You or your technicians, have a skill set that is unique and valuable. If you had a child who started sweeping the floor then answering the phone, then cleaning some horns and eventually took over your shop, you’d not only be thrilled, you’d be doing this child a favor. 

Now, would anyone question their qualifications to run the store or shop because they learned the business from their parents? No! Not one single person would discount the knowledge they were able to gleam from you. No customer has ever asked, ‘May I see your college diploma’ as a qualifying question to whether or not they’ll buy reeds from you let alone if you can fix their instrument. 

In fact, I bet you know a Leif. Leif is a guy I worked with once who had so much product knowledgable, who was so well educated with various business degrees, who made graphs and charts to explain his concepts… and he couldn’t sell a thing. My grandfather said these people were, ‘educated beyond their intelligence.’ They had all this knowledge but didn’t know exactly how to put it to work. The accreditations behind his name did not make him successful and they won’t make your apprenticeship any better or worse. 

You don’t need the permission of some government bureaucrat to share your knowledge with your child and you don’t need their permission to share your knowledge with anyone else. Hang the shingle that says, “Apprenticeship” and start making new technicians. 

A Contractual Agreement

An apprenticeship is a contractual agreement. You agree to offer training and knowledge and they agree to pay you for this knowledge in either cash, trade, or a contractual length of employment. You can build this agreement in any way that suits you or the needs of the individual wanting the training. Let’s explore each and type of exchange and then how to measure if you’ve delivered on your end of the agreement.

Cash for Education 

If you exchange your knowledge and skill set for cash you have a predetermined, agreed upon arrangement to accomplish in a certain amount of time. You have X amount of time to deliver the training and they have X amount of time to gain as much knowledge as possible. This is a clean and simple arrangement as once this amount of time is over, you’re released from any future obligations to this person. That said, you are also on a deadline to deliver the education so you better have a plan in place and a way to check up on whether or not you’re keeping up your end of the bargain. Having a curriculum to follow certainly helps keep you accountable. 

Trade for Education

You may consider setting up your apprenticeships so that the shop or store collects on the repairs the apprentice completes and zero dollars are paid to the apprentice. Most apprenticeships should be able to have a tech complete at least 150 repairs (350 if you have a good plan laid out) and if your average repair ticket collects $140, this apprentice has generated $21,000 in repair revenue that your other technicians did not have to touch (350 instruments gains $49,000). Sure, your experienced technicians will do the triage and check their work but this amount of time is negligible when compared to the income. 

Another option of trading for education is a split between being paid to work and paying for education. Let’s face it, not everyone is in the position to take a year off, spend $20,000 on an apprenticeship and earn $0.00 while doing so. Some situations may demand a trade off on both parties: the shop may need to pay a small wage while the apprentice gives up earning more now for the benefit of earning well in the future. This type of arrangement feels easier up front, but keeping track of who owes who what versus how much was earned by this apprentice is a difficult challenge and this plan needs to be well established up front. 

Contractual Length Of Employment

Offering to train someone means taking the loss now to do so. There’s no way around the loss of production in your techs who is doing the training, it’s going to happen. Contracting with an apprentice to stay with you for X number of years after their training at a lower commission level is one way to earn this money back. 

On average, you can expect a 20% reduction in productivity of your staff member(s) doing the training during an apprenticeship. If your average ticket collects $140 and you have a tech capable of repairing 1000 instruments a year, this 20% loss equals $28,000 LESS income. This is difficult to absorb, so, contracting this new tech at 40 % for the first two years if they produce at a certain level, rather than at 50 to 60%, allows you to earn this back from them over time. 

No matter how you make your contractual agreement, you are only exchanging knowledge for income and you don’t need a fancy title, certificate or permission to do so. Just hang the shingle and start educating more technicians. 

If you don’t want to bother training a technician but have someone you want trained, explore the option of sending them to sunny St. George, UT for 12 months of the finest apprenticeship training available. Learn more about this opportunity at repairmasterclass.com/apprenticeship. Steve France