Moniqueca Sims, owner of SSG Appliance Academy, got her first glimpse into the appliance repair industry while dating a man who worked in the space. “He worked all the time, seven days a week,” Sims recalls, “so I used to go out with him just to spend time with him. I saw how easy it was for him to repair those appliances, and he was repairing them quickly.”
Image Credit: Courtesy of SSG Appliance Academy. Moniqueca Sims.
Sims believes in “working smarter, not harder” and had the idea to hire technicians to help the man she was dating with repair calls. She did, but when he didn’t slow down, she ended up with her own appliance repair company.
However, in running that business, Sims lost a significant amount of money purchasing parts. Many people she hired didn’t actually know how to repair appliances — and would just switch out part after part in search of a fit.
So Sims took matters into her own hands again. She enrolled in an online course to learn about appliance repair and started handling jobs herself, even taking her kids along sometimes.
“When you fix something, it boosts you up, every time you do it.”
Still, Sims knew there had to be a better way to train and hire technicians for business growth, so once more she set out to make it happen: She founded SSG Appliance Academy, which provides hands-on training courses on the fundamentals to have a career in the appliance repair industry, in Atlanta in 2019.
“ I saw how appliance repair was the gift that keeps on giving,” Sims says. “When you go out, when you fix something, it boosts you up, every time you do it. It’s not a grunt job. It’s a feel-good job.”
When Sims went out on jobs with her daughter, she found that many of the clients were stay-at-home moms who breathed a sigh of relief when they realized they wouldn’t be alone with a male worker. Knowing that, and seeing firsthand what a confidence booster appliance repair could be, Sims committed to bringing more women into the industry.
The total appliance repair industry revenue reached an estimated $6.3 billion in 2023, yet women make up less than 3% of home appliance repairers, according to data from ConsumerAffairs.
Sims decided to partner with shelters to grow SSG Appliance Academy and offer a viable career path to the women there. Although there was a lot of interest, the shelters didn’t have the funding to back it. So Sims got approved for grants through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
The funding helps low-income, under- or unemployed women and men complete SSG Appliance Academy’s program and “turn their life around,” Sims says.
SSG Appliance Academy’s classes typically enroll eight to 10 students. The most recent course had three women in it. In the past, Sims often had to attend events and convince women to come to the class; now, word-of-mouth is helping them find it themselves, she says.
“ You constantly have to prove yourself [as a woman] in this industry.”
Sims looks forward to seeing even more women take advantage of SSG Appliance Academy, despite the challenges that can come with being a woman in the space.
“ You constantly have to prove yourself [as a woman] in this industry, and not just to the customers,” Sims says. “You have to prove yourself to everybody that works in the industry.”
Sims is also excited to see more people across the board jump into the appliance repair industry, noting that learning a trade can help people make more money than they might through earning a four-year college degree.
“Appliance repair can really help change people’s lives,” the founder says.
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“You want to learn your craft from the inside out.”
To other women interested in starting their own careers or businesses in the appliance repair industry, Sims has some straightforward but essential advice: Enroll in a program that can help you learn all you need to know about the trade.
“You want to learn your craft from the inside out,” Sims says. “A lot of technicians in the field now learn on the job, so they become part-changers because they don’t learn how to diagnose and troubleshoot the appliances properly. So my advice would definitely be to take a class. It doesn’t have to be my school — any school.”
Sims notes that there will be plenty of obstacles along the way, but she encourages anyone interested in learning appliance repair to stay the course — because “it’s a very rewarding career and business.”
This article is part of our ongoing Women Entrepreneur® series highlighting the stories, challenges and triumphs of running a business as a woman.
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Amanda Breen