Still Building America: Welding brings Chattanooga community together

Chanda Chambers, co-founder of Chambers Welding & Fabrication in Chattanooga, Tenn., shares her journey of starting and growing a welding business. She and her husband Brent started the company in 2015, with Chanda coming from a background in human resources and Brent from a union background.

Chanda talks about the challenges she and Brent faced in the early years, including financial struggles and the need to learn about running a business. She also discusses the importance of building relationships with employees and creating a supportive and inclusive work environment.

Chanda and Brent have also started a welding school, Metal Makers, to teach others the trade, including women, minorities, and individuals with disabilities or past convictions. They are passionate about sharing their skills and creating opportunities for others in the Chattanooga community.

Chanda emphasizes the importance of having an exit plan and thinking about the long-term sustainability of the business, adding that she believes in working towards a future where her and Brent can enjoy their work and have the freedom to pursue other interests. Chanda encourages others in the industry to give back and share their knowledge with the next generation.

Check out more from the Still Building America series.

TRANSCRIPT

Darla Welton: Well, thank you everyone for joining us today. I am here with Chanda Chambers of Chambers Welding in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's people like this in the industry that keep me really excited and motivated and I want to share our platform with people like this. Chandna and her husband, Brent, started Chambers Welding back in 2015. Share a little bit about your background and how you guys got to that point.

Chanda Chambers: So, Brent comes from a union background, so he was with Local 704 at Iron Worker Union, and I met him after a really nasty divorce and I was human resources for a lot of tier one, tier two automotive companies, a lot of international companies. At the time, I was working for a German company here in Chattanooga and I actually just transferred here from Atlanta and was looking for something just different and new as I was growing up, I really didn't have an opportunity to dream. I kind of went into my field based off of what I was used to. So, I come from a military background. My mom was in the military, my brother was in the military, I was in the military, my son just military, and my niece is currently serving. And so, there's a lot of military people in my family. And so, we just became accustomed to just going in the military soon after we exited high school. And so, that took away a lot of the dream part for me. I kind of had a security blanket of sorts that I was accustomed traveling around and I was accustomed certain things. And so, when I first met Brent, Brent, he's traveled, but he's traveled with work and he's traveled all over the country in different jobs doing his trade, especially for the union. And he really enjoyed his life and his experience. And so when we met, we met based off of things that we have, commonalities that we had. We love to work out together or we love to work out, period. And we were just both divorced, and so it just came together in that fashion. Now, at the time when we were dating, I said to him that I wanted to own my business, my own business, that's what I dreamed to do. And he was like, "Me too. I dreamed to do that too." So, that is how we ended up starting while we were dating Chambers Welding & Fabrication.

Darla Welton: Amazing dreams collided.

Chanda Chambers: Yes, they absolutely did. And he has just been such a sport with the growth because I don't think we both ever imagine the growth of the company and how quickly it did grow once we got started,

Darla Welton: When I was looking at some of your background, I saw somewhere you guys were like, "Okay, let's do this." And you went out and got a building the next day.

Chanda Chambers: I did. I did. During the time of a bad divorce, I think that you start to date and you realize, especially after the divorce, these are the things I'm willing to accept and these are the things I'm not. And so I knew at 30 something going into my forties, and having my two kids already and not wanting to have any more children, then I really wanted to have a path with a partner. And I wanted that partner to be serious about our life and to take ownership of his decisions and see them through. And so, when he set that to me, I went out and I got a building. I found one that I thought that would be perfect for us. Now needless to say, he really didn't think that we were going to start it like ASAP. He thought we were going to transition into it, but we did not actually, and I am going to be honest with you, the building wasn't even for rent. It was one of those situations where they were going to rent it, they were thinking about renting it, but it was such a great location, I just didn't want to pass it up. And it had the one thing that I knew that he said we needed to have was a bay door, but it didn't have high ceilings, but it didn't matter. I was like, girl, I'm pulling the trigger. This is it for me. And I did, I pulled the trigger and he was such a sport to come through and do it with me because the shop it needed a lot of work, and we did not save for this. We actually took a credit card that he had and we bought our first welder, and that's really what we had, a welding machine and a building.

Darla Welton: Wow.

Chanda Chambers: That's it.

Darla Welton: And a dream, right?

Chanda Chambers: Dream. Yes, and a big dream.

Darla Welton: Wow. And how did it progress from there? I mean, did he have to leave a contract or a job?

Chanda Chambers: So, he was a training instructor for the Iron Worker. He was really set in his path. He really did not know the magnitude of what it could be. He thought part-time gig at most. And so, I remember us going, his challenge was that I did not know a lot about welding. And he was like, "Well, here's the deal." And I didn't dress the part. And that's very important to know. It's a really cool story how I ended up coming into our uniforms and stuff like that. But anyway, I dressed really nice. I had these really cute dresses and I was coming in with my heels and all the things, and so I really didn't play the part of what traditional welding or what welding looks like as a profession. And so, he was really like, "Look, you don't know anything about it. I don't think you're going to be a great salesperson at this, and I don't think that we're going to go too far with it." And so, I was like, "I think we are." And so, I remember going out to the community and I started networking like you wouldn't believe every Chamber event, every event in town, anything that had anything to do with owning a business, I was there for it. And I remember a lady at the Chamber coming to me and saying, "Hey, they're having a minority event at UTC," which is our local college here. And I said, "Oh, that would be great. I would love to go." And she said, "Okay." And I brought Brent with me. And Brent was like, "I'm really nervous about us being here because you really don't know a lot about welding," and so forth. And I said, "In this space, I want to try to get a contract, and if I get a contract with them, then let this be our start." And he said, "I don't think you're going to be able to do it." And I did, and I did get the contract and that was our start working for a simple handrail. And that kind of catapult our business. It was not an easy transition or a quick transition in the beginning. I think for the first two years we struggled. We didn't take a salary. We basically kept reinvesting back into the business. Every dime we made, Brent eventually quit the union, which was really hard for him because that's all he really knew and he loved it. I mean, loved the union and loved the fact that he got a check every week. I mean every week it was faithful. It came right in his account. No issues at all. No fight, no must, unlike entrepreneurship where you don't get a check unless you finish a job and the customer's happy. And so, those first two years was nothing but a struggle. We struggled not with the quality of our work, not with the space itself, but with equipment as you know, it's expensive doing what we do-

Darla Welton: So expensive.

Chanda Chambers: And to get the appropriate equipment that we need to do it, it was hard to ask for your money upfront or to get a deposit because you don't want to lose customers. You're in that situation where I'm just so happy to have a job, but I haven't gotten paid yet, so I'm going to keep on working and hopefully I can make my rent.

Darla Welton: Right, right.

Chanda Chambers: We went through that situation. Yes.

Darla Welton: Oh, gosh.

Chanda Chambers: We got our first welder outside of Brent, and that was hard because people don't have the same work ethic as you. They don't have the same quality that they put in the skillset of the same quality that you have for yourself or for your company. So, all of these things came into place within our first two to three years of business. We didn't get stabilized until we met a wonderful bookkeeper that kind of said, "Okay, you're making enough where you can pay yourself and we need to do that ASAP." And so, she laid down the law in regards to taxes and payroll and understanding what we pay on a job, our materials, our welding consumables. We weren't charging for welding consumables, just all the little small things that you don't think about. Even the building, we had to have our workers' comp, but even though we're small, people still wanted a contract with us with workers' comp and other insurances that protected them in case we went awry, something went wrong. So, all those things came in place within our first two to three years that we had to battle.

Darla Welton: There's so much to learn-

Chanda Chambers: Yes, and we're still learning till this day-

Darla Welton: The unexpected and the cost. And then in bringing people on where you maybe even see potential in them, maybe they're not at the level where you have your expectations and your bar set and you're like, oh, they have so much potential. But then where do you find the time to train them and bring them up to your level while you're still trying to make money and get jobs done? There's so much that goes into that.

Chanda Chambers: Yes, absolutely-

Darla Welton: Yeah. But it sounds like this bookkeeper, is she still part of your team, the bookkeeper?

Chanda Chambers: No. So, that's one of the things that we had to learn as well, is that people can be long-term and people can be short term. And she was was with us short term, but she was impactful.

Darla Welton: Sounds like it.

Chanda Chambers: And I think she was one of the first people that really got us geared in the right direction to be where we're at today-

Darla Welton: That's amazing-

Chanda Chambers: Yes, yes. I learned in construction, people have a lot of personal issues with their families, a lot of mental illness, a lot of drug addiction. And so, you not only have to battle starting your business, sustaining your business, growing your business, but you also have to battle your people as a whole. And like you said, training. We went through COVID. There's a lot of mental health there that people did not recognize a lot of drug abuse that people didn't recognize. It was kind of funny and kicks and giggles in the beginning, but then once you hit a stumble and you need that person to perform, they wouldn't show up or they had a lot of tragedy going on in their own personal. So, you had to balance, you had to say, "I am a business owner. This person has all the potential in the world, but are they the best for my company?" And so, you had to start making those kind of decisions. And so, it's so weird how owning a business seems one dimensional when you start, but becomes like 5, 6, 7, 8, 20 dimensional when you're in it. It's like you see so many different sides to what you're doing once you're knee-deep in it. So, that's really what our experience was. We started off like, oh my God, I can't believe we're here. And then we got to a point where it was like, oh my God, we're here.

Darla Welton: Reality.

Chanda Chambers: And then we were like, oh my god we're here.

Darla Welton: Oh gosh, yes. At some point then did you start to learn how to weld yourself?

Chanda Chambers: Yes. So, I had the brilliant idea that we need to open up a school. I was like, I don't see any minorities in regards to women. I didn't see women. I didn't see a lot of women. I would see women trickle here and there, and then it became minorities, and then it became kids. So, I just said to my husband, and then when COVID hit, I had all these guys. I had a lot of guys asking for $30, $40 an hour, which just wasn't realistic for a small shop that was used to paying no more than $19, $18, $17 before COVID. And so, I had to figure out if I'm going to pay more, how and what should I do? And so, the school and training came into play. My husband, as I was saying to you, is extreme introvert, so he's not the best at sitting down and training and teaching every person that walks in the building. His thought is he's a union guy. He's like, you don't know this. You don't know how to do this. Where do I come from? They don't teach you how to do this. And so, I had to get him to understand that everyone didn't come from the union that we take aboard and that we have to take them where they're at because they're hard to find. We are the smaller fish in the pond, and so the bigger fishermen are getting the bigger fish. And so, we have to learn to deal with whom we get and what makes us different that they would want to come to us versus going to the bigger fish. And so for me, it was I beefed up our benefits. So, I pay 100% of our supplement insurance as far as Aflac and dental, vision, I do a life insurance because I didn't want anyone to do a GoFundMe page for my guys.

Darla Welton: Oh gosh, yeah.

Chanda Chambers: I started doing more of the things that I thought that they would really appreciate far as their family. We did a lot of events together, like team builders. We do two a year. I pay back for their tradesmen tools, $250. We give a bonus if we make over what we plan to make for the year.

Darla Welton: That's awesome.

Chanda Chambers: We have every meal. Yeah, we started doing the things that we thought to bring people in who are looking for a smaller environment, who would want to be around their wives and not have to travel. So, we started really trying to make a family.

Darla Welton: Yeah. Gosh, relationships are so important. Being able to trust your employer, trust what they say, as much as or we want to find employees to be trustworthy, they also want their employer to be trustworthy, feel like they can count on them, see them as human, and let that go both ways. That's so much easier to do with a small company, a small business where you get that family relational atmosphere. It does make a huge difference. Or even you, you don't want them to go to the big fish, so you feed your own fish, right? Take care of, right?

Chanda Chambers: That's right.

Darla Welton: And when you take care of them, you take care of their families and that builds a loyalty, and that's so important.

Chanda Chambers: It is. We didn't have it going into COVID to really go out and get benefits or 401(k), but I told my husband, I was like, "Either that or we lose all our guys because they're going to make it sick. Their family's going to get sick." I got to figure out how do I keep these guys working and being loyal to us at a time where everyone's switching companies for a couple of dollars. And so, that was really it for me. I tried my best, and I will tell you that Brent is definitely the wiz when it comes to welding. When we decided to open the school, I became the wiz at teaching. So, I went knee-deep in the training piece was for our people, but then I thought that there was a community need. We had a lot of people who came from prison. We had a lot of people who never been exposed to any form of hardware, hand tools, tools. They didn't even know the names of them. Kids didn't know how to use measuring tapes-

Darla Welton: Yes, you're speaking my language, I love this.

Chanda Chambers: It was so amazing looking at how could we go in the community and make changes and keep our employees and make them feel like they're a part of a family, but also be an employer of choice because we care. And so, we had to hit at all different angles. My husband, him being a phenomenal welder, then sat me down and was like, "Well, if you're going to have a school, you need to know the basics." And he used to every night, every afternoon, sit me down and show me how to weld. And it was for a long time, very hard to rip him away from what he loved doing, which was welding and put him in the office to have him do paperwork. And so, he found pleasure in taking me down there and teaching me because he got to go back into the shop. And he found a lot of laughter in me not knowing and me being so ignorant to take measure and be stinky. I used to call everything a thingy and he would be like, "God, please do not call another thing a thingy."

Darla Welton: I love it. I love it. But isn't it's funny because my husband, the past few years has also been teaching me how to weld. And I kind of love that experience because it's fun to see him just share all of his knowledge about what he does. That just is really fun to watch and your spouse and your partner anyways, see them really just dig into what they're good at. I feel like most people don't really get to spend time with their spouse at their job. So, a lot of people don't even really understand what they do, but to have them share that knowledge and that experience with you is really something special and unique. And I wish more spouses and partners would get out in the shop and throw on a hood and play with some fire to find out what it's all about. I just love that we have a similar experience there. I feel like we shared something really unique. So, he really poured into you then teaching you all of the basics, so that you could then pass that on to your community.

Chanda Chambers: I was very scared because I am more outspoken between Brent and I really, and I couldn't ever see us fail. So, I became such an advocate about welding that people were always shocked that I weld. And I went to a meeting one time at a company and I had one of those beautiful dresses on, I was telling you about my high heels, had my hair done, makeup on to a T, and I remember them thinking that I was a housekeeper coming for a job. They did a roll call of all the trade, and the guy next to me elbowed me when they called housekeeping. And I remember me looking at him like, oh my God, he thinks I'm a housekeeper. And so, I stood up and it must've been probably a hundred males in the room, all with their work shirts on their boots and their work pants. And here I am with my little dress and looking cute, and I stood up and said, "I'm a welder." And I remember everyone there faces turning red and saying, "I'm so sorry." And I could have easily took away from that saying, "Oh, I was mistreated," or "People, they stereotyped me" or whatever. What I took away from that was, I'm not playing my position, and the position that I need to play is I need to blend and show what trade I'm proud of and who I am. So, I went back and I created these shirts online and my husband was like, "Now we get a uniform." And I was like, "Oh, I'm going to take it to the next level." So, it's so crazy around my town when they see me out and about, they look for my orange construction, orange shirt with my big logo on the back and my work pants and my big boots, my welding boots, and I represent that every day. And my company took off because of that. So, that was a huge lesson for me to not only have him teach because he was right. People respect you when you know what you're talking about, when you have experienced it, when you can. I now hold a real conversation with anybody. Yesterday I had dinner out and about at a nice restaurant here, and right next to me was the guy who was working TDOT jobs, government jobs here. And so, he turned to me and he was like, "I see you're a welder." "Yeah, I am." And he was like, "Look, I've been looking for a welder. I would love to do business with you." And I was like, "Oh, that's awesome." So, that is really what this is about. If I wore that dress, I would've never got that opportunity as I did wearing my uniform. that's why they do it. I just think that this profession, what we do, how we represent our trade is so valuable. That's what I'm here to do to teach other women. I teach children, I teach people with past convictions. Anyone who's interested in trade, I try my best to bring them in and give them an opportunity.

Darla Welton: Yeah, it's so nice to be able to fill that gap in the community, right?

Chanda Chambers: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Darla Welton: It's such a cool experience. Again, I feel this kindred spirit with you on that level. I'm just such a big fan of what you're doing because it's a little bit like what we're. Doing too from the kids to the 80-year-old lady, please come on in, that's why we're here. We want more of this in our community at every level.

Chanda Chambers: For me, it was autistic kids and people with disabilities.

Darla Welton: Yeah.

Chanda Chambers: I created this wheelchair accessible welding table, and I actually did it with the Girl Scouts, and I was blown back that they brought a friend who was actually in a wheelchair who tested it out, and he loved it. He was like, "I feel real comfortable. I think it's awesome that you're doing this in the community. There should be more of this." And so, that was one of my favorite events. I made them a welding patch because the Girl Scouts didn't have one with a little girl on.

Darla Welton: Yes, you did.

Chanda Chambers: And so, yes, girl I had to. I thought to myself, we need to leave an impact. We need to make sure that they know we exist and that this is a career path. And so, that was one of the things that I was most happy about. That was a highlight moment for me with the school we started. Another one was autistic kid came in with his grandfather and his grandfather, years of welding experience, had the gloves, the jacket, girl he had the top dollar welding hood. He was in the background helping my husband teach the class, all the things. And they took a bench class, and I remember the grandfather kind of leading the course or leading the class or leading the project. And all of a sudden you see the grandson taking lead and being at the very end, so proud of his accomplishment with his grandfather. I mean, we couldn't stop him from smiling if we wanted to. There was another time where a young lady who brought her two daughters to were in Girl Scouts. One of them was autistic, and the one that wasn't autistic. She just took onto the project with no problem. The other young lady decided she really didn't know this is what she wanted to do. It's very intimidating. And so, I remember her mom kind of almost forcing her. So, I stepped in and I said, "Your paid seat here is guaranteed no matter what. So, if she doesn't want to do it today, she can do it whenever she feels like it, whenever she feels like it." And I said, "And if she never wants to do it, then you could do it. Your husband can do it, or your daughter can come back and do it." I said, "I want you all to have a wonderful experience." So, after I made that conversation and I told her, just let her be, my husband was right next to her sister and he was giving her instructions. And all of a sudden she says to him in the softest voice, "I want to do it too." And he said, "Well, okay, I can help you do it." And he turned over and she had the best project, so detailed, so perfect in every way. And so, that really made me say to myself, "We're on the right path." I'm like, I believe that this what we have is a gift. Trade is a gift. It is just so wonderful to be able to create with your hands, whoever you are. And I think that it is, especially welding, it allows those who have disabilities, whether it is mental, physical, it allows for you to release, it allows you to be equal to others. It allows you to be creative, and I think that it's just beautiful. And I think that me and you are on the right path with impacting our community that way. I'm a big believer in what we're doing. I love welding. I loved it from the day that me and my husband opened up this business and I saw his interest and he was so prideful of his work. Me and you talked about that. This is the most prideful trade I've ever seen in my life. I've never been to an interview with any guy who likes to show me pictures of his wealth as much as this business. They want you to see their work. And so, it's beautiful that this is that way. I just love it. We started selling kits online. We're going into a certification program now-

Darla Welton: Oh, cool.

Chanda Chambers: And I'm looking for, yes, I'm looking for folks that can't pass through GED, can't pass their entry level into college, so they can't go and take a certification program. I'm looking for people with prior drug convictions or any convictions and past drug addicts who are trying to find a way or release. I'm looking for those with disabilities. I'm looking for opportunity to give anyone who's interested in doing what we do. And so, that was really my whole idea of starting this. And I love kids. We did a STEM program at a school, and I remember my husband and I going up there and he said, "These kids are elementary." They're like, I don't know, 6, 7, 8, 9. He was like, "This is crazy, we're up here." And we had 45 kids in our line.

Darla Welton: Oh my gosh.

Chanda Chambers: 45 kids, we didn't even have welding jackets that were small. We were rolling them up and tucking them in and doing all the things-

Darla Welton: It was way too big.

Chanda Chambers: Oh, girl it was. It was amazing, and they were just so in awe to what we were doing. My husband was just blown back that kids would even be interested. And so, we started that path to doing kids and getting them interested young in what we do and understanding hardware and understanding hand tools and understanding shop equipment and welding equipment. And I just think it's beautiful. This year we had our first program with local high schools for intern and apprenticeship program. And so, just continuing to give in that community and to reach people who are interested.

Darla Welton: Oh, wow. So, how did that go? How did the apprenticeship internship go?

Chanda Chambers: So, we had eight in total. We continued to keep two. We were interested in keeping two more, but they really wanted to focus in on the studies that they had at their local high school. And then of course, it's hard. It's hot here. And so, I think people don't understand welding is real, real hot. It is really, really hot. And so, with the welding jacket, welding hood, all the things, pants, boots, if it's 90 something degrees here, I promise you it's 120 inside our shop. And so, those kind of things you have to get kids kind of prepared for if they're going to go into this trade. And so of course, two stayed and six did not. But I think it's a win because we have two.

Darla Welton: Right. Who are really willing to hang in there, stick it out, sweat through their clothes in the first five minutes of the day.

Chanda Chambers: Well, we have four who said they want to return. I think that high school is for some their priority and for others, I think that it was their very first taste. And I remember seeing one of the guys who went to go work at Wendy's, and I asked him, I said, "Hey you," I said, "You could be welding right now." And he says, "I would give anything for that now." He said, "Looking back on my choice," he said, "I should have stayed." And I was like, "Yeah." I said, "Summer's the hardest. If you could have made it through summer, honey, winter's a breeze." And so, that's kind of like what we had to go through and kind of face when it came to the apprenticeship. And we also had a girl. And so, for the first time, she had interaction with other personalities. That was different for her because we had to tackle the first time we set boundaries as a woman in the professional setting setting. And so, I had to tell her, she said, "Well, he was talking about..." and she's African-American. And she was like, "He was talking about African-American women." And I said, "Well, what did you say?" And she said, "Well, I just found it very offensive." And I turned to her and I said, "Well, what part did you find offensive?" And she said it. And I said, "Did you tell him that?" And she said, "No." I said, "Well, here's the deal. First off, welcome to working in a male-dominant profession. But I want you to do one thing, I never want you to have anyone speak to you that you do not want to have that conversation with. It is okay to say, look, I'm setting my boundaries with you. I don't want to talk about that. And if you can't respect me, then I'll go ahead and tell them I can't work with you."

Darla Welton: That's great.

Chanda Chambers: And let that be what it is. And so she said, "I could do that." And I said, "Absolutely." And I said, "You know what? You may really find that he did not know that that hurt your feelings or that that was inappropriate. And you're going to teach yourself how to deal with people from this day forward if you stay in this profession." Because we as women have to learn that we have the opportunity to say, "I'm not going to tolerate that." And so, I think that was her first time that really she got the pride to say, "You're not going to make me feel like this." And I think that was a wonderful experience for her. And she's done phenomenal since she's one of the ones that stayed.

Darla Welton: Oh, awesome. Oh, that's so cool. And what an experience for you to be able to share that with her and empower her in that way.

Chanda Chambers: Oh, yeah.

Darla Welton: Oh my goodness.

Chanda Chambers: We can't fight everybody's battles. And I've learned I'm not going to fight your battle for you. I have a daughter. I can't go out and fight every battle for her. And of course, I don't want him to do anything too extreme. I got her back and of course, but at the same time, there's a lesson in there, just like I had to learn about wearing a uniform. She had to self-evaluate and learn, Hey, I can't control what you're doing, but I definitely control how you treat me in this setting, so I'm not going to allow for. So, I think that that was a value lesson for her.

Darla Welton: Yeah, that's incredible. I absolutely love that. I feel like you've already hit so many milestones and from just starting out so small, learning how to run the business, learning how to bring on employees, how to build your relationships, and then starting the school, what is next?

Chanda Chambers: So, the biggest thing about running a business, especially through COVID, I think that we grew rather quickly. And so, now we're setting up, I think the structure of our business-

Darla Welton: To sustain.

Chanda Chambers: Operations manager. Yes, we're figuring out our exit plan. I'm going to tell you something, eight years of owning a business, it's like 80 years of a regular job. That's just how I see it. And I told my husband, "I love what we do. I love our business, but I also want to see that it's you and I doing our next thing that we enjoy doing. Whether that be us sitting on a beach for some years or doing an Airbnb or managing this from afar," because we have great staff or what does that look like to us? So, our exit plan was something that I felt had to be discussed at this point in the game. And then I need something to retire and do because me and him are both busy bodies. We will never stop. The school took on, I really went all in into that school. I really decided that I have a skillset that needs to be shared, and I need to make sure that kids understand how to read a tape measure it no matter how the math change around us, the basics of math for us as tradespeople will always be the same. And so, that math has to be taught, blueprints and all the things that make us so unique. Those are the things that I'm looking forward to in my next life of doing welding. So, those are the two things that we are striving for an exit plan, whether we take it or not, we want to have one-

Darla Welton: I love that. It's so smart.

Chanda Chambers: Yes, yes girl.

Darla Welton: That inspires me.

Chanda Chambers: You inspire me.

Darla Welton: It's such a good thing to be thinking about. Right? I feel like we can get so excited and so into what we're doing. I'm somebody, I find it hard to say no sometimes because I just get excited about whatever's going on and however we can contribute. And I'm volunteering my husband for things, and he's like-

Chanda Chambers: Me too.

Darla Welton: Oh my gosh, yes. Again, I feel like we have some similarities.

Chanda Chambers: Yes, yes, very much. But the exit plan is not that you have to take it. You don't have to say, "Okay, by two years I'm out." You can honestly say, "I want to be able to leave if I wanted to in two years." And that was the thing with me and Brent, because Brent was like, "God, you mean we worked eight years, busted our tail, and we're going to leave?" And I said, "No, it just means that this business won't need us to be here every day, and I'm okay with that." And so, he really enjoyed that. I think it put a little bit less stress from off of us and made us feel more focused on a goal together, another goal, another milestone of accomplishment, and me and him need those things. And so, that was why I came up with that.

Darla Welton: I think that's so brilliant. I can't wait for our audience to hear that because I don't feel like people talk about that enough. It's always like this grind and everybody's hustling and our business is the best it's ever been. But looking into the future, what does that look like? How are you sustaining? And then how do you exit? My husband will say, "Oh, I'm going to weld to the day I die." Cool. But you're probably not going to do it at this level. So, what does that really look like? So, that's a great thing for people to consider.

Chanda Chambers: I agree. And with my husband, he's too like your husband. And I think it's in all welders alike. I think that they feel I'm going to well into the day I die, which you can. And that's why I told my husband, you can always weld, you can always weld, this can always be your dream. This can always be it. But I don't want you to have to. There's a difference-

Darla Welton: There is. There is.

Chanda Chambers: It is. Our fathers and mothers work until the day they die, most of them. If you come from middle class, you literally see them deteriorate if they don't work. And so, I don't want to take that away from us. I want to work to the day we die as well. But I want to do it in things that we're smiling about and happy that we can do it versus we got to do it. You know what I'm saying? And that's really important. You can make all the money in the world, but you also can lose all the money in the world. So, where are you putting it?

Darla Welton: Right. And you don't want the work itself to kill you, to be honest, right? It can be so hard.

Chanda Chambers: You're absolutely right.

Darla Welton: Yeah, I see the physical toll on my husband from when he started till now. And I'm like, oh gosh, man, that is so rough. Got to find a way to take care of yourself and still enjoy doing what you love to do.

Chanda Chambers: You have a gift inside your head. I mean, that right there that you have, it is not to me give it away. And that's one of the things I had to really teach my husband, give it away, give it away. That is really how you're going to sustain longevity and some other kid is going to be like, I remember Brent Chambers. I remember how phenomenal he was. And here we are, not on the earth anymore, but they still ring your name because of what you did for them-

Darla Welton: Oh my gosh, yes.

Chanda Chambers: And I said, that's a huge impact that you don't see past because you're so busy trying to work. And so, I told him, I said, "It's a little bit of both."

Darla Welton: Yeah, it is. And that's so true. My husband so often talks about when he was an apprentice, the journeymen that he learned from, and he really enjoyed that experience. He loved his apprentice experience. And a couple of those guys have passed, and he still speaks their name. They were career tradesmen working in the automotive plants. And even his teacher at the community college, he's still around, but he still says his name and his main journeyman. He's still around. He still speaks his name. And I know other names. I know who they are and what they poured into my husband's life. So, it's our turn now, right?

Chanda Chambers: That's right.

Darla Welton: Yeah. Well, that's so awesome. We're taking it on Detroit. You're taking it on in Chattanooga.

Chanda Chambers: Love it.

Darla Welton: Yeah.

Chanda Chambers: It seems like we have so much in common there. Guys would have so much in common, especially about us being so driven to volunteer them.

Darla Welton: I know. I know.

Chanda Chambers: I love it.

Darla Welton: Me too. Well, thank you so much for sharing some of your background, your story, what you and Brent and your team are doing. It's really exciting. I can't wait to share all of this with our audience. They're going to love it. So, tell our audience exactly where they can find you websites, social media, where's the best place to find out about what you're doing?

Chanda Chambers: We're everywhere, we try our best to be. So, we're in Chambers Welding Fabrication Corp. We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram, and we're also metal makers, that's the Fab School. And so we're on Instagram, we're on Facebook, and if you want any information, please email us. We're ChambersWeldingFabrication@Gmail or metalMakersclasses@gmail as well. We would love to hear from anyone and everyone.

Darla Welton: Awesome. Thank you so much for your time. I really, really appreciate it. Chanda, you're awesome.