Chloe Hudson

Eric Girouard  0:00  

This is bucket talk, a weekly podcast where people who work in the trades and construction that aren't just trying to survive, but have the ambition and desire to thrive. The opportunity to trade and construction is absolutely ridiculous right now. So if you're hungry, it's time to eat. We discuss what it takes to rise from the bottom to the top with people who are well on their way and roll up their sleeves every single day.

Jeremy Perkins  0:29  

All right, this is the new season of bucket talk. And on our first episode, we have Chloe Hudson arc welding Angel. Chloe is a precision TIG, welder, and fabricator. Welcome, Chloe. Hi. Awesome. Awesome. So I'm super pumped. I've been following your journey for a long time. Super stoked to have you on I want to get to know more about you, I want to get to know all this stuff that you're in. I mean, you're doing some pretty crazy stuff. as a, as a novice amateur, well, they're definitely envious of your skills. And so being able to do the stuff that you do is is something that I would I would love to achieve in my future. But let's get to know you a little bit more closely. Where are you based out of little bit of your background and how you got to where you are today.

Chloe  1:21  

Um, so a little bit of background, I actually didn't always want to be a welder. I really wanted to be a plastic surgeon initially and my entire high school career I spent pursuing those, I guess, goals. In my senior year of high school, I literally had no more science, I could take nothing else that pertain to a health sciences degree and I had to fill my schedule was something I had a piece of shit old Jeep 1998 Jeep Cherokee. And the group of guys that I kind of ran around with also had jeeps and trucks and it was our shared interest. And I really couldn't contribute much because I was of course, my main focus was pursuing this career and as like a plastic surgeon and so I wanted to learn something that could apply to my life and be helpful. So I took the welding class that my vocational school offered, and really took to it love the instant gratification that came with it, love the fact that I could improve markedly every single time that I did it, and really, really loved it honestly, because it kind of became an a passion that I never really expected to have. And so, fast forward to graduation, I went to start doing clinicals did them at the VA horrendous experience. So I kind of had to rewrite what I really thought my future is gonna look like and started working in maintenance and the nuclear sector and doing a nuclear shutdowns, outages. And I really noticed that the paper tag guys, you know, all the guys that came in with new trucks and clean shirts, and you know, they big pimpin on site, they were all craft guys. And you know, I was like man maintenance sucks. We can all the shitty work, nobody else wants to Now granted, it made me a lot more grateful now that I have this station in life. But you know, I did all the terrible job, you know that there was a pump that was leaking and had to get cleaned out from underneath it. I helped do it. If we had to get repainted and turbine building, I had to do it in abatements. I mean everything you can think of hanging led in the reactor building ages, it was a lots of good life experience that I kind of knew I really wanted to hone in my focus on something and I applied for higher level jobs. And I had this great resume and one of the recruiters was like, You're jack of all trades and a Master of None, I have nothing I can do with you. And it really kind of stuck in here that I had to master something to be able to demand a premium for the work that I did. And that's exactly what I did. I went to trade school I had two credits from high school passing a play test doing stick welding. So I kind of was already ahead and jumped on that took two years got my degree had ended up with a lot of American Welding Society certifications, which kind of gave me a little bit of a leg up especially with my lack of experience directly as a welder in the field. So I was very blessed that the school that I went to offer that I won the stainless steel category for SkillsUSA welding out a three inch stainless steel pipe. So pipe welding combo welding was kind of my wheelhouse. Yeah, it's what I was most used to. It's what I saw the most in the field and I really kind of took it from there and went from nuclear maintenance to building dry cast storage containers that held spent nuclear fuel. And those were all predominantly stainless steel. So that was a great stepping stone and moved into turbine, hydro electric turbine unit shutdowns and refurbishment. And that was a lot of really heavy industrial welding. And I kind of always had it in my mind that I really wanted to do precision TIG because that was the art of it. That was the beauty of welding to me. And so I would take my lunch breaks and stay late at work and take jobs are components that were that called for MIG welders TIG welds, and my boss Mike Garner, actually, let me take my own personal time take longer to TIG weld it so I could really hone that that part of the craft. And that's what it ended up leading to this position. My current boss Shane, love, he and coy Gibbs had this this project, this endeavor, which is Joe Gibbs aerospace where I currently work, and they actually pulled my work from Instagram, I started using Instagram almost like a portfolio as an easy yes, an easy place to kind of direct people to what I did my day to day. Because honestly, there's there's especially when it comes to trades, it's a perfect place to kind of put your work out there and get critiques from other people in the industry. So you know. You know, like, Yeah, I think every every water it kind of falls into that trap of, you know, the beautiful blue and purple wells. And yeah, there was always a lot of discussion about you know, the quality of those welds and you come to find out you're really looking for that perfect stainless steel, shiny, weak colored, which was great, because when I transitioned into titanium, that's exactly what they were looking for. Yeah. Um, so I tried to take my criticism constructively do what I do with it. But that's where I am now. I work I work for Joe Gibbs racing. I'm in the aerospace program. We build airship components. It's primarily titanium hubs. And so that's what really you see the most on my Instagram right now.

Jeremy Perkins  7:15  

So when you refer to airship, that's nothing different than just an airplane. Correct?

Chloe  7:20  

Correct. So it's just a different type of aircraft. It's things that blend. So there, this is the modernized version of Zeppelin.

Jeremy Perkins  7:28  

Okay, interesting. Yes. So how many? How often are you building one of these creations or,

Chloe  7:36  

technically, we're on p3, which is the third generation of this particular airship. So they're they've gotten progressively larger with each stage. And it's a humanitarian effort. And Sergey Brin is the one funding it. He's the old CEO of Google. And the humanitarian portion of this effort is these airships would be deployed to disaster areas. They'd be based on like military air bases. And it would give an opportunity for power, Wi Fi, and an essential needs to be housed in these airships and they could stay put. So instead of having an aircraft come in, drop off and leave, you know, here it is kind of like a floating safe haven, if you will, oh, it's just power and Wi Fi to really help those people in need. So that's kind of that's where we're at with that major project we've got going on right now.

Jeremy Perkins  8:32  

Wow. I mean, to be honest with you, I mean, the the blimps or Zeppelin's, as we would have called it is I've only seen them recently with, like, NASCAR and a few other you know, sporting events, but it's interesting to see that they're somewhat making a comeback, and if so, they're used for other than marketing and advertisement needs.

Chloe  8:55  

Right. And it's funny, like, you get so used to doing cool stuff that I forget that if I'm short on airship parts, I do NASCAR race car parts. We have a four part team here. It's the 1819 20 car and 54 car. So your FedEx car best pro car? Yeah.

Jeremy Perkins  9:13  

DeWalt car, obviously racing series.

Chloe  9:17  

Yes, cup series. I've actually done a part for every NASCAR series. They've got so truck series. I mean, even XFINITY series I did parts for SRX Series, so I've been a bit they keep us busy up here for sure.

Jeremy Perkins  9:33  

Yeah, I just you know, when we when we came on with brunch, we we our first major sponsorship was Mason Massey and in the XFINITY series, and it was wild and now this year he's actually he's going full time truck so you know we're excited to stick stick with the driver and, and so we're gonna be a truck series team and we're excited about it.

Chloe  9:56  

Super exciting. Yeah.

Jeremy Perkins  9:59  

So obviously now We're two days ahead of every major race, but it is what it is. Yeah. So that's interesting, because I've talked to a lot of mechanics. I've talked to a lot of welders. And, you know, it's interesting because, like, at least in the automotive side, when we're talking to one of the pit crew personnel, they had said that they went through, you know, universal Technical Institute and then went through the NASCAR Institute. And that's kind of how they got into it. You know, some welders just say, I just weld weld weld, and then I get an opportunity for you, when you had talked about schooling, where did you actually go to secondary schooling, you went to trade school first, but then you did a secondary schooling, what was that a welding Academy? Or was that?

Chloe  10:47  

Well, I actually did a Tri County Technical College, so they offer a two year bachelor, associate's degree, bachelor's degree, associate's degree. So I got my associate's degree in Applied Sciences, and my minor was, well, my major was welding. So I, that's, it's, you graduated, like I had to take core classes, but my main focus was welding. And they did like I had Blueprint Class, that kind of thing. I had a history of welding, I had a, each six month period was dedicated to this particular type of welding. So we got a lot of hands on shop experience, it was honestly fantastic the way that they had it lined out for us. But I didn't do an arc lab, they didn't do something where they really threw you in a booth. I'm not a massive believer in that I think that there's some people who can really pick it up and do it. But for me, personally, I need time under the hood, I need that one on one from an instructor to kind of be like, hey, no, you know you chose aren't you chose aren't fused in well enough, you got cold up here, you know, you needed to make it more even, you know, everybody on Instagram loves that, well, welding, it's pretty looks nice. I had never done that in school, until I got out in the field, ironically enough, but what they taught me there was such a, such a good foundation for everything that I picked up later. Because it was solid, it was all everything that they taught me was the textbook way of doing it. And it was, it really helped in the end, especially for someone like me, who is just such very critical of myself. And it's something like that, where you actually can kind of learn, all encompassing about welding, and it not just be a forum, or you know, your buddy down the street, or you pick up really bad habits, because you've learned from somebody and that's all you've done for the first six weeks. And so I got very lucky.

Jeremy Perkins  12:42  

I'm sure I'm probably one of those people. But it's, it's actually funny, because that's the conundrum that I talk about, especially with you know, going to actually a high school trade school into a Technical Community College to potentially a for profit, UTI, MMI, WyoTech, something like that. Or just, you know, going straight into the field or trying to find certifications on your own. That way. One point you did bring up that I like, because as I continued my my journey further, and I did get my college degree. One of the coolest things that you mentioned was actually getting that two year degree, along with the necessary skills you needed to go forward. I didn't have that opportunity. So I while I had some college credits, I didn't actually have an associate's degree. But I lucked out, because I was able to transfer a lot of them. But had I looked into the automotive industry a little bit further, I would have gone for something that had, you know, a more than just like a technical certificate. Right? That was my mistake. I, you know, I think in the end, it all worked out. But I think that's one of the things that I could tell somebody's like, hey, get that, check that box for whatever it means, you know what I mean? Just get that associate's degree, get the bachelor's degree in whatever technology that you got, if it's available.

Chloe  14:07  

For me, I would put the time it took and I still worked two jobs and work a night shift job. I worked a weekend job, I paid for it out of pocket. It was a massive thing for me. I didn't graduate with any student debt at all graduation I In I graduated Kumada which was a miracle to be completely honest. But I think when you look at technical colleges, that people forget that there's there's programs like micro works, you know, I was a recipient of one of their scholarships and it paid for an entire semester for me. You know, American Welding Society is another massive one that does a lot of grants and scholarships, and there's so many people who really want to highlight the trades right now, because of how important infrastructure is in the fact that so many tradesmen are aging out there. I mean, that's, that's that's really what it boils down to is this When everyone switched over to this kind of just get a coding job thing, you had such this, this boom of students that went that direction that everyone forgot that coding doesn't matter if you don't have the infrastructure to get there. And I think it was a really, really wouldn't reiterate awakening these last couple years, especially with these natural disasters, and you realize that your plumbing, it's like a plumber, your pipe burst and Texas and they can't get a plumber for six months, if not longer. And I think those situations really puts the importance of trade people in people's faces. And it's something that's undeniable, and it's, you know, it's not just some hairy hairy guy with What crap hanging out like, No, these are people who are extremely educated, extremely good at their craft, like I have honed it have have put years into it. And the thing about it, I like to tell a lot of people is I can learn to do your job, you can't do my job. A lot of times, it's, it's not all created equal, a lot of times people are, you might be the 1%. But even if you look at welding, it's such just an umbrella term. You know, there's so many things that are associated with it, even you know, from engineering, structural, if you drove on a road, think a welder if you have, you know, if you use your cell phone, think a welder because you know, their cell phone towers, the soldering that goes into pieces in the phone itself, all those things are so imperative to our day to day that I'm really glad that it's kind of finally getting that attention it really deserves because I fell victim to it. I couldn't tell you what welding exactly was. Especially the vast kind of I mean, there's, there's so many things that go into it. And I was definitely one of the people who didn't even really take that into consideration.

Jeremy Perkins  16:54  

Well, I'm sure our listeners have probably heard this over and over again. But still, I mean, it's, I, our school didn't our high school didn't even promote any of that stuff. I mean, we had computer lab and a few other things that were more geared towards the technology side of things, but home Mac and shop class and even child development and cooking like those, those things were no longer and so it was interesting, like when I got my break in the military, and then it was like, hey, what do you want to be choose from this book? And I'm like, interesting. So as I got out of the military, I realized all right, well, you know, I come in non rated, I don't have a specific job. I'm everybody's, whatever you want to call it. But so I'm a tool for everybody. And in that process, I learned different trades. Didn't want to be a plumber. Nope. So I ended up getting into the machinery side of things which which was encompassing welding and fabricating, but mainly, like you had said, the maintenance side of things, diesel engines, generators, potable water systems, sewage systems, you know, and the list goes cooling system just went on and on and on. So we're doing refrigeration units, we're doing this, we're doing that, but it's all basic understanding. And then I was able to hone those skills in through through further education, and then just like a clear path and direction that I wanted to go. But that was kind of the cool thing about starting this was exactly what you said. And you know, there's a lot of trades empowerment out there. And for me, when I first started it, like the whole thesis behind my idea of being here, not necessarily Eric's, but it was I have nobody to hire like we have a shop. A guy quits. I don't know, like, there's nobody there. Nobody's asked for an application. I could put it on Monster indeed. It's like, it didn't matter. I could I could ask my buddy who's a tenured mechanic at a dealership and he's like, nobody wants to leave. And so then you go down to the trade schools, right. And the trade the automotive class in our areas like 15 towns, it was like 10 automotive students. So so out of the graduating class 10 of them are available Yeah, and most of them into the boot. Most of them are owners sons and daughters so they're just like following in their parents footsteps they're gonna go back to the tow company or auto body shop that their parents had them you know, get a basic foundation and so you got like five kids to choose from. And you're like this is

Chloe  19:27  

a horror on the flip side of that to you even get like the entitled kids who think that they're they deserve you know, top pay right off the RIP. You can't get it you get to the prima donnas to man. It's just it's such a it's a very interesting world of non reality a lot of times for me, it's just I struggle with it a lot because I think you know, I mean even my hobbies on the side, I still still work ya know, I value a value it and I I think a lot of that came from my dad and in the things that he instilled in me, but we're starting to edge into the generation of the kids who don't even have parents that really instill that work ethic and that you're like, the way you contribute, and how, how do you how are you a contributing member to society? You know, and it doesn't have to be traits, like, are you just nice to people? Like, do you just want good manners?

Jeremy Perkins  20:23  

My dad said that from day one, you know, I'm gonna make you into a productive member of society. Literally. That was the words out of his mouth. And I was like, I don't really know what that means. But I've found that 100% Yeah, well,

Chloe  20:35  

it's like, yeah, like, now you do. And you're like, Okay, I get it. Yeah. When you have kids, you like, No, you're gonna take the trash

Jeremy Perkins  20:40  

out? Exactly.

Chloe  20:43  

Because I said, that's the only reason you need.

Jeremy Perkins  20:48  

But no, I mean, you're, you're 100%. Right. And, you know, back to the point of everybody wants to be that high paid person. I mean, I know how many guys we had come down that were like, I want to be an operator. And it's like, here, you're gonna grease it, there's 187 grease fittings, like, that's, that's how you learn your machine, you're not just going to hop in and dig around, right? To be honest with you, I learned that lesson myself, too. I mean, I, I came in a little hot. I was younger, too. But yeah, it's humbling. It's, it's good. It's like, you know, start from the bottom, learn from your surroundings, and then it keeps you safer to be honest with you, too. There's a lot of cowboys out there that think they know it all. And really, it takes a lesson or two for them to realize that they need to slow it down and, and do it properly. But yeah, what, honestly, where do you picture your career going? Like, so it seems like you got it. You're, you're, you're in it? Like, what's what's next for you?

Chloe  21:49  

Well, I actually, I put it kind of on my to do list to to get my certified web inspector in and I accomplish that. And I'm really super excited to kind of to add that to my repertoire. And I think I'm from my group of people that I'm good. I know that sounds crazy. I know there's a there's this constant need for hustle, hustle, hustle. And every time you get on Instagram, someone's telling you to be entrepreneur, in addition to just shoving this narrative down your throat that if you don't own your own business, you're a slave to the man. And, you know, it's like, I think sometimes there's such a disservice. Because you know what, you can be a good employee, you can be someone who wants to be where you work for 10 years, for 15 years, or 20 years. You don't have to want to own the business. And that's something that that's really the place that I'm at now, you know, a lot of people who have come to me and some side work here and there. And they're like, Well, why don't you do your own business and as I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, like, I want to, I want to come to work. I want to clock in. I want to know exactly what I gotta do. I want to put a good part out at the end of the day, I want to go home and I want to enjoy my life. I don't need to make a million dollars. If I stayed with this company in the next 20 years of my life. I'm good. I love it here. It's clean. It's cool. There's there's there's no shortage of things to learn. I'm constantly you know, hanging body panels or operating this piece of equipment and machine and you know, we've had everything from Burger King signs, we've welded aluminum Burger King signs to airship parts, NASCAR race car parts, and in into, you know, a six inch IBM for mooring mast. And so, it's this job is such a dream job for me that. I mean, I know, everybody wants to give a good 10 year plan, but dude, I'm good. I'm happy.

Jeremy Perkins  23:41  

No, I mean, that's, it's, it's awesome. I mean, it also seems like a width. And I don't know if you encompass this generation, but the generation coming in, they seemed a lot more. It was actually startling to some of the old heads. And the fact that like, they didn't want to work that 80 Hour Work Week and, you know, they just wanted to do the 60 or 50 hours and, you know, then when you start to talk to him, they're like, No, I'm going skiing this weekend, I'm going to enjoy life. Like my my view of of that, like I came from the, you know, the old guard where it's like, you know, you're working overtime, you're doing 12 hour plus days. And then I started to realize when I had kids and everything that you know, obviously there's a need for that I'm not I'm not downplaying now Yeah, but on the flip side, it's like I was live you know, I was literally going home and thinking about work and then just going back to work so my my life revolved around work and I was like, I almost was envious of some of these kids that are like work is secondary dual.

Chloe  24:45  

Oh, like it's so funny, because that was a serial workaholic. I mean, I guess we're definitely cut from the same cloth. I mean, I used to work six days, seven days. I worked in Massachusetts and they you couldn't work Sundays because union and I got assigned off like a work on Sundays in it. A

Jeremy Perkins  25:00  

I have always original work in maths by the way, because that's where I worked in

Chloe  25:04  

bear swamp so but work to bear swamp hydroelectric, and we did the turbine refurbishment and change out up there. And that's what I did before I came here. Yeah, it was great. It wasn't a mountain. It was the first time I'd ever seen it. 24 inches of snow. And thank God I had was driving a truck at the time because man, my little southern half was not ready for all that. It was ridiculous.

Jeremy Perkins  25:27  

I wanted more pain. So I moved up to Maine and we get even more snow. So

Chloe  25:32  

it was actually started dating my boyfriend at that time. And it was so funny because every time I'd go visit him, I had to go buy girl clothes. I had nothing but hoodies and bibs and boots. I had, well, you forget that, like the Oh no, you have identity outside of your job. Exactly. I think a lot of people just really lean into the identity of the job. And ironically enough, I come to work here. I start working here. It's four tins. I mean, that's a schedule everybody wants and what do I do I sign up for social media to do for tony stewart racing on the weekend. So I work seven days a week again. Glad we're punishment.

Jeremy Perkins  26:15  

The smoke? Nah, he's,

Chloe  26:17  

um, man, I tell you what it is such. And I almost feel like I can't be real because I love it. Like I, I it doesn't seem like you're supposed to love it. But man is we just a different town every weekend. There's 24 race weekends out of the year, where I'm going somewhere. And then on top of that appearances, and it just kind of it hits that creative bone in my body to do social media for something completely different than than welding. Because, you know, going back to those critics, you don't don't have a built in fan base, you know, you have built in people who are critical of you, because that's the nature of trades. Is the ego attached to it. Yeah. So to have a race team that you get to focus on one driver and their fan base, and they come out wanting to be fans of that person is been a nice reprieve.

Jeremy Perkins  27:11  

Well, it's, it's wild to because he was cup series. And now he's drags right? And oh, loves it. He also has, what was the what was the race the the

Chloe  27:22  

quarter midget to this quarter.

Jeremy Perkins  27:26  

So, I mean, he just, he can't get him. I grew up with him as a cup series racer, and now he's just, he's moved on from that. And he's doing his own thing. It's crazy.

Chloe  27:35  

It is. It is like a kid on Christmas morning. I mean, every weekend that I see him, yeah, there he is, like gung ho ready to go. The nicest person I've ever met in my life. It just one of the best dudes, his drivers, Matt Hagen is, he's another one of the nicest people that the most generous, humble drivers I've ever met is like one of those guys that will stay on the line and talk to fans all day long. Leah, I mean, I, I've known her last for years. And she is just so embraced that that role of like, having the team owners, your husband, and it's, you can really see all of these people come together into their own. It's been amazing. I mean, it's the second thing in four years that I've gotten to be a part of, like startup and I'm like, Well, this is great. It's really cool to see the evolution of it.

Jeremy Perkins  28:29  

It's wild, too, because like, I mean, the fact that I've, you know, gone up through the trades military to be in a foreman to now, this new endeavor of trying to empower more and bring more lights to the trades. And I had this unique opportunity to work with Bryant. And same with you. I mean, it's just, it's amazing that, that I couldn't have dreamt this up for myself. And if I had told somebody knowing where I was going to be what my path would be, they would have told me to go pound sand because we're literally never coming out of out of the depths. And I think there's more and more opportunities for people and to be honest with you, it's attainable. Anybody can do it, you know, I could be replaced by the next guy who knows. Right? Right. So this is it's interesting. It's like hard work, dedication. Just I mean, just grinding it out and looking for new opportunities and sounds like you've landed a an awesome opportunity or multiple to be honest with you. Right? So all right, so it sounds like you work seven days a week you don't like anything but welding but outside outside of that. What what do you what do you like to do? Like what is what is Chloe on the weekends? Like,

Chloe  29:47  

I am a feminist worst nightmare because like is as gung ho as I am for this trade. Yeah, and racing and all that man. There's nothing better than getting to just dress up. Be a girl. We'll make food make it cook like those, those things are something that I definitely, like revel in myself. And, you know, I love the whole antique shopping. I love visiting like historical monuments. You know, I'm honestly like a 62 year old woman trapped in a 29 year olds body. It's ridiculous. Like, every time we go to a place like I try and find at least one historically significant, something to visit. Yeah, it's just, there's so much here. And there's so much history. I mean, I don't see how you can't entertain yourself forever. We aren't just learning about it all. So I really love to read. I'm a big nonfiction reading enthusiast. I really like to learn about the American West and settling the West in the Civil War and past founding presidents and that sort of thing. So yeah, I'm kind of I'm so boring. Boring.

Jeremy Perkins  31:04  

Oh, no, no, I mean, to be honest with you. We do share and some of that, you know, Massachusetts, New England is like full of history. I've lived in the Springfield area, which had, you know, Springfield Armory and Basketball Hall of Fame and up north, you know, the volleyball Hall of Fame to moving out to Lexington and now it's a Battle of Lexington, Concord and all that. And now I'm I live up in Maine and a house that was built in 1795. So I'm learning Oh, yeah. All about the pain family. They were Cooper's or coopersmith. And it's just like, I'm in the paint Historic District. We have literally a graveyard on on site. And so it's cool. I mean, I think you can learn a lot from the past and Oh, yeah. No, absolutely. By the way, my wife. I got a bone to pick with you. My wife caught your your closet redo. Oh, yeah.

Oh, okay. Awesome. I mean, it was

Chloe  32:08  

Yeah, I had no faith. I it was one of those things where I bought a house 1880 It was my one my house was born. Yeah, born Jesus Christ. No one was born when it was built. And I was, they redid the inside and everything was just contractor grade stuff. Yeah. So I've been I started with my laundry room. And I haven't quite finished it yet. But you know, it was were like mitered corners, and let's learn how to do wallpaper and trim cabinet. So I've like kind of tippy toe into it. And then one week, and I was like, You know what? Bucket, we're gonna try to juice I my dad definitely came out of me. Because whenever I was, little, if I if I wanted anything built by him anything, it didn't matter what it was, it didn't matter if it was a cardboard box for it. I had to write a blueprint and plan and draw it out for him and take measurements. And honestly what it was is that he just knew I wouldn't do it. So he didn't have to build the thing. Now that I'm an adult, I definitely understand the importance of it. And so I was at work one day and I kind of lined it out and I was like, I can do this. Okay, you didn't then you watch two YouTube videos. No, no, I can do this. I can definitely do this. And you go and I've got my dad's old tables all appear in Microsoft and I got a hacksaw to you. And I was like, I definitely I got this and I went to Lowe's and had them cut out the MDF for me. And the first little cubby, I thought I was gonna be so smart. And of course, I'm by myself, mind you, and it's an eight foot tall ceiling. So I build this cubby out on my porch and it's eight feet tall and I don't put it back on it because I'm an idiot. And I tried to drag this thing into my house. It fell apart. Just flat crumbled. And, and my poor dog. She's 11 years old and she understood if I opened the door and I was walking through it with something, she would go hide, run and hide in the bathroom. I think I crushed her a few times too many, but it was such a learning experience. And my I've been in trades for 12 years. Yeah, all right. There's nothing more intimidating for a welder who can put metal back where they accidentally took it out well yeah. To do carpentry there is nothing more intimidating because it's like

Jeremy Perkins  34:27  

setting up a batch of glue and Sadat's exactly

Chloe  34:31  

it's I mean it was it was so rewarding. I slept with my closet light on for like three days it just just three days so I'd wake up in the closet. I was not I was like man this is this is great but hack. So the here's the thing that I did is I went to IKEA and I got like the drawer unit which helps it's such a that is such an easy shortcut and it kind of gives you everything to build off of. So that's where I got my depth was that drawer unit. And then I put in One of those shelf units and it saved me so much time. Did I buy enough material where I could have bought the the shelf unit and done it myself? Absolutely. Did it save me a ton of time? Yes. But this is where you mess up, you accomplish these things. And now I think I can do anything. Anything that I need you for my house, like, sure I can tie in a gas line, right?

Jeremy Perkins  35:24  

And that's the funny part because I've actually gotten myself into trouble where you, and that's where you gotta have a good Rolodex of people that are actually qualified. They're like, Hey, wait, yeah, I'm gonna need your help with this electrical problem I got. And then they come over there, like two years. So you know, you could have actually the first thing is, you know, you could have killed yourself, right?

Chloe  35:44  

Oh, my God. Well, in what I did, too, because I had to change out a light switch. So I went in the maintenance guy here and same scooter. He's I think I just bought Oh, I bug him to death. And so I was like, I gotta change my thing out and he sent me screenshots what to buy at Lowe's apart numbers, and I brought it in and he tied little baby wires in. So now I knew I just had this one goes green. This one goes black, this one goes away. Seems like this is foolproof. If you burn your house down, it's your fault.

Jeremy Perkins  36:19  

Awesome, awesome. So one thing I like to do in the show is I like to plug a tool, actually. So it could be something that you aspire to owning or something that helps you out early on in your career. But what is like a number one tool for you? either past or present

Chloe  36:39  

it for a welder? Hey, it was so funny. So Michael Furyk is the creator of the Bureau cup backup. And I the beginning of my career, I went to Fabtech. And that's all I wanted. I just wanted one of these $40 cups because I swear to God it was gonna have the magic might be better water. And I went to Fabtech drove to Atlanta from South Carolina. It's the only thing I wanted. And the poor fella just would not sell me what he told me that when I was a real welder, maybe I could buy one and would not sell it to me. And so I message fear of going online. I was like, Hey, man, you know, what am I gonna do get my hands on one of these? I want one. I don't care, whatever. And he was awesome. He sent me I've never paid for if you're a cup sick. And he's, he's been Ride or Die since day one. For me. He is believed in everything that I've been trying to do. And as a welder in some what I've done, I have a kit for everything. Yeah, I think it's worse than women with accessories because everything costs more. And that's why if you're a woman and trade your double flex because I like accessories and tools. terrible fear and cup as much as people say they're not necessary. When you get into precision work, especially this titanium stuff that we're doing. Yeah, that tool is so essential and making your life easier and better. It's insane. It isn't worth its weight in gold, spin the $40 the SSB VW that he just came out with. Honestly, I barely need a trailing cup four. If you go and you look at my page, majority of people cannot believe I do not do any sort of mechanical finish on that. Well, that perfect slick titanium weld is how it is child comes, it's how it is and it's the postwar iPhone is 30 seconds and it is insane. 10 out of 10 that's the tool that I would recommend that will change that will change the game for you as a welder. But that being said, you have to use it right? It's totally CFH I know a lot of people don't want to spend the money on Oregon. That's what it takes. And it's one of those things you use it right

Jeremy Perkins  38:56  

it'll change the world. So I was gonna say I mean the video is just showing the argon coming right out of it. I mean, yeah, that's how that's magic, right?

Chloe  39:03  

Yeah, that is that is 10 out of 10 Yes.

Jeremy Perkins  39:10  

Awesome. So this is the end of the show. I feel like we've covered a lot of ground we got to know you a little bit better. To be honest, I like to use this part to for you to plug anything where they can find Chloe on all channels reach out to her have any questions or, or what have you, but fire away.

Chloe  39:31  

Well, I'm arc welding angel on everything. I usually just use Instagram. That's kind of been my primary platform. Um, what maybe YouTube will see I reserved the domain name. I don't know if I have time to really kind of jump into that I'd love to. But other than that, I'm keeping it simple. It's our calling Angel and Instagram and you got questions? Asked me. Yeah.

Jeremy Perkins  39:57  

Thanks for being on the show.

Chloe  39:59  

Yeah, For me it's just super exciting I love your boots it's a natural fit right

Jeremy Perkins  40:05  

yeah