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November 21,2003
MAKING LEMONADE Wheelchair-bound Beatty man turns experiment into business
By RICHARD STEPHENS
Everyone knows how to finish that popular saying, but few have found a more creative or rewarding way of making lemonade in the face of hardship than Beatty resident Rick Wilson. But, then, what would you expect of a man who built his two-story home by gluing together blocks of surplus Styrofoam? Wilson originally came to Beatty as an underground mechanic and electrician for the now-closed Barrick Bullfrog Mine, but a three-wheeling accident at the Amargosa sand dunes landed him in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the waist down. To keep busy, Wilson, who grew up in Enid, Okla., learned skills from his father, a machinist. He began turning out pistons for out-of-production model airplane engines and selling them on the eBay online auction site. Wilson was also planned to do a little auto upholstery work, something he had done when he was younger. Through eBay, he made the acquaintance of a Chicago woman who was looking for a quilting machine, but could not afford the ones that were on the market. After she described the machine to him, he told her, "I could probably build you one. I don't know whether it would work or not." That first machine, which Wilson describes as pretty crude, did indeed work, and it led to a home-based manufacturing business that is still going strong today. Wilson estimates his shop has built about 600 quilting machines; he ships them to customers from California to Canada. He turns out five different models of the machines, ranging in price from about $900 to $4,200. Wilson's most popular model currently sells for $3,200. This might sound like quite a bit of money, but he says the least expensive machine anywhere else on the market goes for $7,000. At one time, demand for the machines was so high that Wilson had 12 employees in his shop, but he says that the slowdown in the economy and "everything else" has slowed it down to a dull roar, which is a lot easier to deal with, he said. The shop now employs four Beatty residents, including his wife LaDonna, and one man who now lives in Toeele, Utah. Wilson's quilting machines start out as sewing machines, generally Singer model 201's, which he purchases on eBay. He says he used to be able to buy them cheaper, but the demand he has created has driven the price up. Right now the used machines cost him an average of $200, including shipping. Adapting the sewing machines to be quilters requires extensive work. Besides all the work that must be done to modify internal moving parts, the upper bodies of the machines must be made an inch or so taller and several inches longer, and the sewing feet and fabric feeding mechanisms are modified so that fabric can be fed from any direction. The machines are mounted on special tables with rails that allow them to be moved across the quilts as they are sewn. Wilson still occasionally sells a machine on eBay, but nowadays most orders originate from his www.wowquilts.com web site. He says he has never had to advertise. Despite the success of the business, Wilson says he would sell it in a heartbeat to the right buyer, someone with the know-how to keep it going. Maybe he has another recipe for lemonade he'd like to experiment with. |
