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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey listeners.

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Speaker 1: The following is a bite sized version of an episode

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Speaker 1: of On the Job, a podcast from Express Employment Professionals

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Speaker 1: that shares the experiences of everyday Americans finding their life's work.

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Speaker 1: These clips can be humorous and heartwarming, sometimes both at

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Speaker 1: the same time, and they're always insightful.

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Speaker 2: Enjoy. I am Demenie Pollitt, and I am the owner

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Speaker 2: of Gurlington Garage in South Burlington, Vermont, Beautiful.

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Speaker 3: I appreciate you building a fort there for our reporting.

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Speaker 2: You're welcome. It was kind of fun. I haven't built

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Speaker 2: a sheet for it since I.

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Speaker 3: Was a kid. Welcome back to On the Job Today.

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Speaker 3: We're speaking with Demanie Pollett, who, as you heard, is

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Speaker 3: the owner of a female run auto repair shop in Vermont.

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Speaker 3: But Girlington Garage is more than just a cute name.

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Speaker 3: Demni's mission is a creative place where women feel comfortable

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Speaker 3: having their cars repaired.

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Speaker 2: They walked in and they didn't feel out of place

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Speaker 2: or like they didn't belong. They immediately felt like, yeah,

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Speaker 2: I can sit down here, and this feels like I

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Speaker 2: don't want to say this feels like home because you

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Speaker 2: know it doesn't feel like home to go to a

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Speaker 2: repair shop, but something equivalent to home. This feels like

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Speaker 2: a comfortable coffee shop. Maybe I don't know.

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Speaker 3: As she tells it, Demni was far from a natural

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Speaker 3: born mechanic. In fact, it took a lot of trial

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Speaker 3: and error, sometimes at her own expense. Pre Gurlington, Demni

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Speaker 3: was working in the social services field, tending to the

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Speaker 3: elderly and people with developmental disabilities. But it seemed that

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Speaker 3: no matter how much she worked, she just couldn't get ahead.

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Speaker 3: So she came up with two two potential career paths.

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Speaker 2: So the only two things that I thought would be

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Speaker 2: at all interesting were psychology. I thought that would be

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Speaker 2: very interesting fixing cars, figuring out these machines, fixing their

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Speaker 2: mysterious mysteries every day. So I did a little bit

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Speaker 2: of research, and I realized it was going to take

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Speaker 2: six years to become a psychologist and two years to

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Speaker 2: become a technician. And so that was my decision right there.

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Speaker 2: And I thought, God, I wish I knew of a

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Speaker 2: woman mechanic. I would drive long distances to bring my

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Speaker 2: car to a woman who was a mechanic. And then

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Speaker 2: I thought, I bet a lot of other women feel

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Speaker 2: this way.

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Speaker 4: I'm going to.

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Speaker 2: Open up an all go garage and I'm going to

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Speaker 2: make a million dollars and then from that point on,

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Speaker 2: that was my plan. That was what I was working towards,

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Speaker 2: was figuring out how to open my own business.

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Speaker 3: But the more Deminie learns about the industry, the more

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Speaker 3: she realizes opening up a business is a lot of work,

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Speaker 3: much more than she can do alone. Luckily, she knew

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Speaker 3: just who to call.

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Speaker 2: My mom was looking for something new to do with

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Speaker 2: her life, and so I said, Hey, come up to Burlington.

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to start this business. Why don't you come

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Speaker 2: help me? And so she did.

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Speaker 3: Eight years into the business, Demni came down with a

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Speaker 3: thyroid condition. She struggled to even work the two and

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Speaker 3: a half days a week, and that's when her mother's

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Speaker 3: unconditional love took over.

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Speaker 2: My mom, being a really, really good mom, said you

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Speaker 2: need to take some time off.

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Speaker 3: So your mom held the fort while you were gone.

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Speaker 3: She did.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, my mom. She ran the business all by herself.

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Speaker 3: With her health greatly improved, Deminie is back in the

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Speaker 3: shop days, but she admits she's in that challenging phase

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Speaker 3: of ownership where it's no longer as exciting as it

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Speaker 3: once was for her.

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Speaker 2: I care about the business, I really do, and I

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Speaker 2: love my employees. I love the people that I work with,

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Speaker 2: and I do want Gurlington to run forever. So I'm

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Speaker 2: mostly just there for support for the manager, Susan McGrath.

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Speaker 2: She's fantastic and running the business like nobody's business.

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Speaker 3: Demanie still goes in two days a week, but her

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Speaker 3: goal is for Girlington to grow independent of her. So

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Speaker 3: what are you thinks next for Demanie?

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Speaker 2: I have no idea. I'm still in a transition getting

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Speaker 2: it to a stable point. Once that is sort of settled,

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Speaker 2: I'll have to think about it. I haven't thought about it.

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Speaker 2: I don't know what's next.

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Speaker 3: We'll see from the job.

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Speaker 4: I'm Avery Thompson, a strong work ethic, takes pride in

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Speaker 4: a job well done.

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Speaker 5: This is the kind of person you need. Express Employment

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Speaker 5: professionals can help because in.

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Speaker 4: Good times or bad, we understand how critical it is

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Speaker 4: to manage your business for today with the right workforce.

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Speaker 4: We offer hiring solutions to fit changing demands. Express knows Jobs.

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Speaker 5: Get to know Express go to expresspros dot com to

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Speaker 5: find a location near you