If you do what you love,
you’ll love what you do
Most people would agree that working is an
essential part of life, and the U.S. is a country whose citizens live to work. A 2004
study titled “Overworked in America” conducted by the Families and Work Institute
found that one-third of U.S. employees
were chronically overworked. In the book
The Overworked American, written by
Harvard economist Juliet Schor, the average
person works 163 hours more today than in
the late 1960s, the equivalent of one month
a year. According to the report “
No-Vacation Nation,” one in four private-sector
workers in the U.S. does not receive paid
vacation or paid holidays.
Given the crazed, workaholic nature of
the U.S., enjoying what you do is certainly an
important ingredient to long-term success. If
we are going to expend so much time and
effort on our careers, what could be better
than getting paid for something that we
actually like doing?
Just ask Ted Roark (Read his story,
“Accelerating business with EB welding,” on
page 16). The president of C.F. Roark
Welding & Engineering Co. Inc.,
Brownsburg, Ind., a job shop dedicated to
fabricating components for the defense, aerospace, and science and research industries,
found a way to keep his father’s company
alive amid an economic downturn that
closed many other small, family-run job
shops.
But like many people, Roark has interests that fall outside the realm of his business, particularly running, coaching youth
basketball, and biking. In the late 1990s,
while weighing the options for potential idle
capacity at the facility, Roark came up with
the idea of designing and manufacturing
titanium-framed bicycles in-house.
Today, located in the back of C.F.
Roark’s Brownsburg facility is Roark
Custom Titanium Bicycles—a bike frame
fabricating business that specializes in high-end, custom travel bicycles. The light titanium frame and a custom coupling system
enable the bike to be disassembled and
stored—wheels included—in a hard case,
allowing traveling cyclists to check their
bikes without incurring an airline’s over-sized-luggage fee.
The venture proved to be successful—
notable Roark bike owners include actor
Robin Williams, professional triathlete Tim
DeBoom, Papa John’s pizza founder John
Schnatter, and, of course, Ted Roark.
American workers are hard workers,
whether because society tells us we have to
be or because current economic conditions
have piled on additional stress (at this point,
it’s probably both), so it would behoove us
all to make sure that we’re spending that
time doing something we care about.
Send comments and technical
questions in writing to:
Amanda Carlson, Associate Editor
Practical Welding Today
833 Featherstone Road
Rockford, IL 61107-6302
Fax: 815-484-7788
E-mail: amandac@thefabricator.com
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