My brother is 5 years older than I am and he left the house to go to college when I was in middle school.
My brother went to school for engineering, but he dropped out during his junior year to start a repair business focusing on heating and AC equipment.
The repair business in Waldorf, Maryland, did well for the first three years and then my brother ended up with a drinking problem. He lost the business and his wife. My brother ended up moving home to live with my mom and dad for a while. I spent some time hanging out with my brother when he owned the heating and AC repair business in Waldorf, and I found myself interested in HVAC systems too. When I was done with high school, I went to a technical school nearby so I could learn heating, AC, and plumbing repair and installation services. I worked for a Waldorf, Maryland heating company for a year and during that time my brother stayed sober. We hung out a lot playing video games. When he got his one year tip, he told me a big fat secret. He still had $50,000 in the bank from selling the repair business and he wanted the two of us to start a place together. I thought about the decision for a week and then the two of us started looking for a place for our new business. We found a Warehouse downtown and the place was easily twice as big as we needed. There was plenty of room to grow and expand.