Success Story: Liborio in his Element
My story is not flashy at all, or about how I worked at some investment hedge fund as an investor trading on wall street making a 6-figure income. No, it wasn’t even close. I was working as an automotive technician barely making a living paying a mortgage trying to keep a roof over my young family’s heads. Just a working man living out of state. I lived in New York city most of my life, the south is not all that friendly to Yankies.
It all began with an idea. In 1987. I had this crazy dream to become an automotive instructor. At the time I was working for one of the largest Ford dealerships on the East coast in Chesapeake Virginia, near the city of Virginia Beach. I was one of 3 electronic fuel injection technicians; we were a total of 35 +/- mechanics. That was a big deal in the 80s because the technology was fairly new in the USAs automotive industry.
That summer the dealership hired 6 helpers in the service department. They were a bunch of nice kids aged 17 to 20 years old. For whatever reason these young men seem to gravitate towards me, and they would ask me questions about life in general. They seem to trust my advice somehow. At the time I wasn’t that much older than them, I was 27, married with a 2-year-old daughter. I suppose, you can say, I was old enough for them to ask me for advice and young enough for them to relate. One day a couple of them asked me about career choices, they asked how hard it was being a technician and so they wanted to know how they can become mechanics. I gave them the best answer that I could, I told them they should start to get some training in a vocational school or work as an apprentice in a small car repair shop. Later on, days later they asked me again the same question and if I could have train them. needless to say, I was flattered to be asked. A day or two went by and I thought of the idea of becoming an instructor. I said to myself, wow imagine if I was to start training these guys, a dream come true. That was so farfetched I started to laugh at myself, who was I kidding me an instructor? I was one of the top technicians in my field yes but, not instructor material. A week or two went by and that thought was gnawing at the back of my head, just couldn’t let go. That weekend I was moving things around in what was a third bedroom in my home. After I cleaned up the room I said, imagine if I turn this room into a classroom and start training those guys and give them some basic automotive training just to get them going in the field. That would be fantastic. It was only a dream for someone like me, no college education, no automotive technology degree from a university, I was just very good at what I did for a living, I was at the top of my game. That Monday I went to work I got those young men together for lunch and I laid down a plan. If you could convince at least 7 to 8 people to participate in a training program that I created they would be on. They got a total of 5 people I said we start this Saturday morning at 9 am. They all agreed. I went to Barnes and Nobles ordered 6 automotive technology textbooks and I started teaching them that Saturday. This went on for about 2 months. They were all exited to learn how to repair cars. Then one day I told them it was time for them to get jobs as apprentices in the field, and so they did. I got to add this other short story about the training class. One Saturday morning I took them on a field trip to Sears so they could buy a toolbox with some tools. As we were walking in the tool section I realized my feet felt funny, I looked down and noticed I went out with fuzzy, funny looking get out of bed slippers. I was so excited for doing this training that I walked out the house without changing my shoes. Needless to say, I was a little embarrassed but so happy to let that worry me. That really was a dream come true for me.
In 1990 we moved back in New York city, went to work for another Ford dealership in Queens. Less than a year later I took a class with an outside training school, meaning other than Ford. During lunch I got to talking with the instructor. I told him that I was an amateur automotive instructor and what I did in Virginia. He was intrigued. The instructor, Jay Innes, asked me if I would be interested in an opportunity to teach, I said to him that I was not an instructor. He said to me, in talking with you I can tell that you are passionate about your trade, and you would make a good instructor.
We set an appointment to meet in a couple of weeks at his office to go over a few methods of training. I agreed to go. A continuation of my dream come true. A few days later Jay calls me and asked if I would meet with him that Saturday morning at 9 am. I was so excited about the whole idea that I got there an hour and a half earlier. We went over a couple of ways to teach courses and then he tells me if I was interested in teaching a 1-day course in the same classroom we met. I didn’t know what to say but I agreed. Jay helped me load my car with a slide projector, an overhead transparencies projector and a bunch of teaching materials. I went home and told my wife about wat had happened; we were both very excited. That week I studied the subject I was going to teach like I have never studied before, this was real, it was happening there was no going back. Saturday morning came and found myself in front of 20+ students. I taught the class to the best of my ability, gave the best performance of my life.
I continued teaching part time for Jay and Snap On Tools, the company we both worked for. I continued teaching for about 10 tears. It really was a dream come true. Today I work at New York City Transit as a full-time instructor since 2016 and loving every minute of it. I truly feel I was a kid playing baseball and later got recruited by the major leagues.