Meet the millennial father of six who rebuilt his life through the trades—and questions America’s obsession with college

Arkeem Sturgis is only 33 years old, but he speaks with the wisdom of someone who has lived many lives. Midway through a recent interview, as he was changing the diaper of his one-year-old daughter, he stopped this Fortune reporter’s question to offer a gentle correction: “Breathe,” he said. “Slow down. You’re gonna get everything that you need to get done. You’re not in a rush.” That instinct-to steady, to teach, to pull others up with him-has become Sturgis’ hallmark. A father of six and founder of a Jacksonville, Fla.-based handyman and HVAC business, he’s spent the past five years rebuilding from homelessness to his first $100,000 year. And he’s done it, he says, through faith, mentorship, and the conviction that success in the trades can still offer the kind of freedom millennials and Gen Z Americans are chasing elsewhere. He’s also had to overcome what he sees as unnecessary cultural barriers to success for someone like him. “We as a country have done a poor job equipping our children for life,” he said. “We used to have [wood]shop in schools.” In his view, he had to struggle to reach this point in his career because of a lack of hands-on training in public education. “We expect children at the age of 18 to graduate high school and make a permanent decision in our lives by going to college,” he said. “An 18-year-old does not have the mental capacity to make a permanent decision for the rest of their lives.” Sturgis’ struggle was not just an emotional one. In 2020, like many Americans during the pandemic, he was laid off from his job as a TMJ fabricator at Zimmer Biomet and his economic situation spiraled. He became homeless, shuttling his wife and five children between hotels, Airbnbs, and friends’ homes. “It was a really, really, really rough year ... keeping my family together and smiling through that entire process was a lot,” Sturgis said. He had never considered the trades, but he was always good at his hands. He found the Home Builders Institute (HBI) , which provided a special program for children of veterans (his father served in the Navy) and enrolled in its carpentry program and later in HVAC. It started small but led to mentorship and now a business where Sturgis is his own boss and on track to make $100,000 in revenue this year. How to beat AI with blue-collar work Sturgis started small at HBI, assembling furniture and fixing leaky faucets, while working 10-hour night shifts at a warehouse. “At one point I was working 10 hours overnight, getting off at seven in the morning, clocking into my business at eight o’clock, and working another eight to 10 hours,” he said. “Then going to sleep and doing it again.” Within months, he was earning steady work through Home Depot’s Path to Pro program , a trades skills and job matching program, and using the skills he learned at HBI to expand beyond handyman repairs. The...

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