Book Report: At Your Best as a Carpenter
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Juan Carosso holds an MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Michigan and has over thirty years’ experience in business development for startups and turnaround companies. He also manages a real estate investment business and has renovated properties across the U.S.
 
His relationships with tradespeople and contractors revealed a lack of qualified candidates that limited his business growth, and Carossa has since made it his mission to expose people to, and educate them in, the opportunities that the skilled trades provide. He lives in Kingston, Washington.
At Your Best as a Carpenter is your playbook for learning if a career as a carpenter is right for you, progressing from pre-apprentice to journeyman to master carpenter, and launching your own small business. Learn:
•  What does a career as a carpenter look like?
•  Why should you consider becoming a carpenter?
•  How do you become a successful craftsman as a carpenter?
•  How much can you make as a carpenter?
•  What are your career options once you become a carpenter?
•  How long does it take to be successful at each stage in a carpenter’s career?
•  How and where do you find work as a carpenter?
•  What does it take to strike out on your own? 
•  What does it take to launch and build a successful small business?
 
At Your Best is the only step-by-step handbook to finding if a career in the trades is right for you, educating yourself and earning the proper certifications, establishing yourself as an excellent apprentice and journeyman in the industry, and moving on to start your own small business in the trades.
 
At each step of the way, your At Your Best playbook and its companion, www.AtYourBest.com, provide the information, recommendations, outside resources, and concrete actions needed for taking the next successful step in You, Inc. Whether you are beginning your first career, changing careers, or ready to move up and start your own business as a carpenter, plumber, HVAC/R tech, or other tradesman, this is the book that will tell you how.
 
There are currently over 6.5 million unfilled jobs in the skilled trades in the US. Despite being well-paying and secure, these jobs remain open because enough qualified candidates with the skills, attitude, and experience required do not exist. Moreover, plenty of opportunity exists for established tradespeople to start their own business, but they have no guidance. The At Your Best Playbooks series and www.AtYourBest.com change that.
 

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About the author
Bill Esler | ConfSenior Editor

Bill wrote for WoodworkingNetwork.com, FDMC and Closets & Organized Storage magazines. 

Bill's background includes more than 10 years in print manufacturing management, followed by more than 30 years in business reporting on industrial manufacturing in the forest products industries, including printing and packaging at American Printer (Features Editor) and Graphic Arts Monthly (Editor in Chief) magazines; and in secondary wood manufacturing for WoodworkingNetwork.com.

Bill was deeply involved with the launches of the Woodworking Network Leadership Forum, and the 40 Under 40 Awards programs. He currently reports on technology and business trends and develops conference programs.

In addition to his work as a journalist, Bill supports efforts to expand and improve educational opportunities in the manufacturing sectors, including 10 years on the Print & Graphics Scholarship Foundation; six years with the U.S. WoodLinks; and currently on the Woodwork Career Alliance Education Committee. He is also supports the Greater West Town Training Partnership Woodworking Program, which has trained more than 950 adults for industrial wood manufacturing careers. 

Bill volunteers for Foinse Research Station, a biological field station staddling the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland, one of more than 200 members of the Organization of Biological Field Stations.