Author: Angie Sykeny

Angie Sykeny is a Hippo staff writer covering local arts, theater, music and pop culture. She can be reached at [email protected].

On The Job – Levi Maxwell

Violin seller

Levi Maxwell is a violin seller and owner of Levi Maxwell Violins (400-7149, facebook.com/levimaxwellsviolins), based in Mason.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I buy new violins at a discount by buying them in bulk. I put the strings and bridges on and tune them up. I then sell them to aspiring musicians of all ages. I advertise mostly via Facebook and good old word of mouth.

How long have you had this job?

I have been selling violins on and off for a few years now but have been putting more effort into this growing business in the past few months.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I would have to say that when the musician in me met the entrepreneur in me, this business was born.

What kind of education or training did you need?

Humbly, having a good ear comes in handy when tuning a violin as violins are one of the trickiest instruments to tune. I am also learning some basic violin repairs as I go, which I find to be an exciting challenge.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I am naturally laid back, so the fact that I own my own business is nice when it comes to work attire. I am able to dress comfortably and casually.

What was it like starting a business during the pandemic?

Levi Maxwell’s Violins didn’t really get much momentum until after the pandemic, so I was mostly able to avoid the trouble of a startup business when the world was stopping.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

I think if I had known in the beginning that the violin business was going to catch traction the way it has, I probably would not have put as much time, effort and money into other ventures. But, hey, learning is part of the whole process, right?

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

One thing I wish people knew about what I do is how fragile a violin is and how delicate you must be with one. Although, when a repair is needed, the challenge helps me grow.

What was the first job you ever had?

The first job I had was working at Dunkin’ Donuts. I definitely have a sweet tooth, but I have to say I prefer handling violins over doughnuts as the temptation is just too strong for me.

What is the best piece of work-related advice you have ever received?

I would have to say that the advice that encourages me the most about my business is simply seeing a satisfied customer.

Five favorites

Favorite book: The Bible
Favorite movie: Ice Age
Favorite music: Christian worship music
Favorite food: Mexican
Favorite thing about NH: The weather is never boring.

Featured photo: Levi Maxwell. Courtesy photo.

Ensuring you’re insured

Meet the navigators of NH’s Health Market Connect

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently renewed the Covid public health emergency for another 90 days. For those currently enrolled in Medicaid, the extension secures uninterrupted health care coverage through at least Jan. 11. When the emergency declaration ends, however, some may discover that they no longer meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid. Health Market Connect is a community-based organization that oversees a federally funded program created to provide no-cost health insurance assistance to New Hampshire residents. HMC president Keith Ballingal talked about how HMC is working to ensure that residents are prepared for how their health care coverage may change once Covid emergency waivers and flexibilities are no longer in effect.

What is Health Market Connect?

We’re a solely New Hampshire-based organization that helps citizens of the state enroll in the Marketplace and Medicaid insurances. We’re funded by a grant from the federal government. We have 11 people on the team — we’re known as Navigators — and our goal is to do outreach and to do those enrollments. The team is situated in the unique areas of the state of New Hampshire — so, like, North Country and Monadnock and Seacoast regions — to make sure they understand the unique pieces of those communities.

What does the health insurance assistance that HMC provides look like?

We get an understanding of who they are. If they qualify [for Medicaid or Marketplace], we’ll help them to apply … and to understand the insurance companies they’ll be placed with and how they work. Sometimes there’s also [a need for a] follow-up when the system can’t quite confirm a person’s income — maybe there was a change in the household — and anytime there’s follow-up documentation, we can help the consumer with that as well, for both Medicaid and Marketplace.

Why is it important that HMC is community-based?

In one sense, my team does what healthcare.gov does over the computer or over the phone — we put somebody into insurance — but the team is also community-focused, which means they’ll be in a library or in a local store; they’ll be in those places so that, if somebody really wants to have that face-to-face interaction, they can have that. It’s also our job to know how different places here in New Hampshire work together.

How will the end of the public health emergency affect health coverage, and who will be affected?

A good majority of people on Medicaid. Because of the public health emergency, no one can lose Medicaid, so [people haven’t made] as much of an effort to make sure their information is up to date with Medicaid. … The state has sent out what they call “pink letters” — pink letters in the mail to get the attention of everybody who needs to make sure their information is up to date. … [Qualifying for] Medicaid and Marketplace depends on the number of people in the household and the income. [Consumers with] lower incomes will [qualify for] Medicaid. … Anybody who truly should have Medicaid, who qualifies, needs to make sure their information is up to date so they don’t lose it.

What concerns or confusion have people expressed about that?

The concern from a number of people is that, because they got the pink letter, maybe they’re going to lose their coverage very soon. We need to alleviate that [concern] and say, ‘Listen, we’ll help you get your information in, but because the public health emergency is continuing, you are not, under any circumstances, going to lose coverage yet.’ … I also want to make sure it’s known that there’s an insurance program for everybody. A lot of times, we have people say, ‘Oh, I won’t qualify for [Medicaid or the Marketplace],’ but the reality is there’s an answer for everyone. If somebody gets stuck, it’s just a matter of reaching out, and we’ll be glad to give [their case] a second look to make sure they understand that if they didn’t qualify for one thing, that just means there’s a different solution for them.

Will changes in health coverage brought about by the end of the public health emergency result in people having to change doctors or medications?

Potentially. If there’s a household that’s making a little more income [and wouldn’t] qualify for Medicaid, they’re going to go from Medicaid into the Marketplace. Medicaid has three particular insurance companies, and the Marketplace has three different insurance companies, so in those cases, we want to make sure that as they make that change … they’ll be placed for coverage that will work for them depending on the doctors they need to see … and that the medications they need to take are still covered, hopefully at a reasonable cost.

Are we any closer to knowing when the public health emergency will end?

We always know when it’s going to end — until they move [the end date] again. … We’ve been getting ready in earnest since the summer … to try to make sure we’re ready for those people who have Medicaid but no longer qualify for it.

Featured photo: Keith Ballingal. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Chris Cote

Exterior and garage door specialist

Chris Cote is the owner and operator of C & W Doors, an exterior and garage door repair, maintenance and installation service based in Warner.


Explain your job and what it entails.
I do installs in the morning and service later in the day, while also juggling sales. … For a typical install, first, I usually remove the old door and existing tracks and springs. It only takes 10 to 15 minutes to remove the old door. Then I prep the new panels with the hinges and rollers, and then I set my tracks to about a half inch of spacing from the side of the end hinge to the side of the roller, so that when the door starts rolling with the electric operator, it stays in a nice straight line and there’s no bouncing or clunking. Once the tracks are set and the door is stacked off, I move to the torsion spring assembly, which is the assembly that lifts the door. The torsion spring is calibrated for the height and weight of the door. … Then I go back to hang the horizontal track with the half-inch spacing again so that no rollers can ever fall out onto you or your car.

How long have you had this job?
I’ve been installing garage doors for 13 years now, and I started my own business doing so in June 2022.

What led you to this career field and your current job?
I was working second shift at a building supplier, and my wife told me she was pregnant, so I had to find a regular day job.

What kind of education or training did you need?
I got onsite training for 30 days, then was thrown to the wolves.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?
Casual attire, with safety boots.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?
The garage door business took a 300-percent increase in the first six months of the pandemic. Once the dust settled, companies saw how people were still able to afford new garage doors, so now a lot of companies [charge] a 100- to 200-percent increase just [because they can].

What do you wish other people knew about your job?
It’s physically demanding and [requires] long days. We door guys are always saying, ‘It should have been done last week.’

What was the first job you ever had?
I worked at a dairy farm as a farmhand. That’s where I learned my mechanical skills and how to use heavy equipment.

What is the best piece of work-related advice you have ever received?
Owning a small business is like a wheelbarrow — you get out of it what you put into it.

Five favorites

Favorite book: White Fang by Jack London
Favorite movie: The Other Guys
Favorite music: ’90s rock
Favorite food: Lasagna
Favorite thing about NH: Fishing and hunting seasons

Featured photo: Chris Cote. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Chelsey Goss

Portable restroom rental provider

Chelsey Goss and her husband, Zach, own and operate Powerhouse Portable Restrooms, a portable restroom rental service based in Hudson.

Explain your job and what it entails.

At Powerhouse Portable Restrooms, we rent portable toilets for a variety of occasions such as construction sites, weddings, festivals and town parks. On a typical day, I spend my time in the truck completing a service route, which includes pumping out portable restrooms, restocking the toilet paper, sanitizer and deodorizers, and sanitizing all surfaces inside and outside of the unit. I also take care of all of our scheduling of new and existing customers. This includes taking customer info, site locations, billing information, creating our serviced routes and providing quotes.

How long have you had this job?

We opened April 1, 2022, so about six months.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

My husband was affiliated with another company within this field, so I worked for them while I was finishing up a second degree. I became very passionate about this field and enjoyed working alongside my husband every day. We decided to go on our own and open Powerhouse Portable Restrooms.

What kind of education or training did you need?

No education was required. A driver’s license, a great work ethic and hands-on experience was all that I needed. My husband has taught me everything about this field of work, which I am very grateful for.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

We don’t wear anything in particular. We have company shirts with our logo and slogan that we typically wear daily, and a good pair of work jeans and muck boots to keep my feet dry while spraying the units down.

What was it like starting a business during the pandemic?

Starting a business during the pandemic was definitely scary. However, coming from within this field, we knew that the demand was there and still at an all-time high. So far, it remains high. People are taking more units for job sites, and private outdoor events are happening more often as the pandemic pushes people to get outside.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

I wish I had known about this field from a business standpoint sooner because I would have started right out of high school.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That portable toilets are not gross. There are definitely larger companies that push volume over quality, however, there are more small family-owned companies like us that take pride in what we do and offer top-of-the-line portable restrooms.

What was the first job you ever had?

I worked at Walgreens for a summer.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

To always stay humble, keep my head down and always give 110 percent every day. As long as I do that, the tough days will iron themselves out.

Five favorites

Favorite book: I’m not a big reader.
Favorite movie: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Favorite music: Country
Favorite food: Mexican
Favorite thing about NH: There is natural beauty throughout the entire state, and the unpredictable weather allows us to experience a little bit of each part of the country right here in one state.

Featured photo: Chelsey Goss. Courtesy photo.

Updates on the mail

The plant manager at Manchester’s USPS center talks about improvements

As part of Delivering for America, a 10-year plan for the United States Postal Service “to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence,” the USPS has installed 270 new package sorting machines across the country, including one in New Hampshire at the USPS Processing and Distribution Center in Manchester. Plant manager Janie Beltran talked about the machine and other initiatives to improve and modernize the USPS.

What is this machine, and how does it work?

It’s an automated parcel sorter. … The mail handlers will place the mail on the conveyor belt. There’s a computer system that reads the bar code [on the package], and then the machine does its magic and sorts the packages by their zip codes. It can sort into 200 different destinations across the country. It’s very simple, but it does a lot. It currently runs 3,000 pieces an hour. I can’t run 3,000 pieces in an hour doing a manual operation. … We’re running it five days a week for now … and we’ve been processing first class mail — small packages, like something smaller than a shoebox — that originates here in New Hampshire, and we’re distributing to all 50 states.

How did Manchester USPS end up getting one of these machines?

The Postal Service is modernizing its operations to accommodate the growing customer demand for packages. When Covid hit, everybody was at home, and that’s when the packages really increased. It’s grown significantly over the several holiday seasons. So Delivering for America is a 10-year plan where they’re investing almost $40 billion, and that’s an investment in people, equipment and technology. They just deployed about 137 of these new package sorters across the country … which will give us the capacity across the country to process 60 million packages a day. … [Manchester USPS] had the space, the right location, the right mail mix, so we got one of them installed here in Manchester.

Is this machine replacing any of your workforce?

No — on the contrary. It has created more need for employees to staff the machine.

How will this improve service? Will people notice a difference this holiday season?

During the holiday season, we get double to triple the amount that we normally do the other 10 months of the year. … This will ensure that we’re well-positioned to handle the peak volumes … and provide customers with efficient, predictable, reliable service that they expect and deserve this holiday and beyond … and that’s even better than last year. … The goal is to run it for 15 to 18 hours a day during the holiday season. … It’s going to help us run parcels to help Nashua [USPS] and give them some flexibility to concentrate on priority packages. … We envision that this machine can also run some priority packages, which are a little bigger, so during the peak volumes we’ll also be running some priority mail to alleviate the volumes that we anticipate Nashua is going to have, just to give them even more flexibility. … We’re ready for a successful holiday season.

What other improvements has USPS been working on?

We’ve converted some of our non-career [employees] to career [status] to stabilize the workforce. We’ve rearranged the working floor to make it more efficient, so that the mail can travel through our buildings into our trips so that they go on time. … Nashua has gotten other types of equipment to help them this holiday season and moving forward. … [Nationally,] we’ve improved our performance. We’ve decreased our projected losses. It was forecasted that we were going to have a $116 billion loss over the next 10 years, but with all these improvements and investments, stabilizing the workforce and stabilizing our service, we’ve been able to reduce it to, I think, about $70 billion now. That’s a big accomplishment for the organization. … Another thing is, during Covid, the Postal Service packaged and delivered about 60-plus million Covid test kits for America. … The government came to us and asked if we could do that, and we said, ‘Absolutely.’ That was pretty amazing for us to be able to help the American public in that way.

Featured photo: Janie Beltran. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Christine Arlit

Quilt shop owner

Christine Arlit is the owner of The Sewing Diva Quilt Shop, a full-service quilt shop in North Salem Village.

Explain your job and what it entails.

As the owner, I wear many hats [including] purchasing inventory, entering it in the system, getting it onto the sales floor, scheduling classes, making samples, cooking for events in the store, teaching, long arm quilting customer quilts, bookkeeping and cleaning.

How long have you had this job?

I have been in business since 2009, briefly closing in 2017 to care for my mom.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I took a quilting class and just fell in love with quilting. I was out shopping for fabric one day and was in need of help and I couldn’t get the help I was looking for so I decided to be that person who would be there to help new quilters pick out fabrics for their projects.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I wouldn’t say it was training, but my passion about what I was doing and wanting to help and educate new quilters was my goal. I learned a lot on my own and hired teachers to help in the process of educating new quilters.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

I am business casual most of the time. I am on my feet most of the day, so you will find me with black polka dot slippers on in the store the majority of the day.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

The pandemic changed us in the fact that we were limited on the number of people in our classroom, people were masked in the store, inventory was delayed, and we would need to monitor how many people we had in the store.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

I wish I knew that sometimes salespeople are just that — salespeople. You need to listen to your gut and buy what’s good for your store and customers. More is not always better.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

I think most people know as a small business owner you do everything. You never stop working. Even when I am home, I am always on the computer looking at new patterns and fabrics for the store.

What was the first job you ever had?

My first job was being a cashier at Marlin Mills in Methuen, Mass. I remember we had to wear striped aprons over our clothes and you were to always look busy.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I received is do what you love and love what you do; the rest will fall into place.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Anything by Danielle Steel
Favorite movie: Dirty Dancing
Favorite music: Country and ’80s music
Favorite food: Chinese
Favorite thing about NH: I love camping, hiking and the mountains.

Featured photo: Christine Arlit. Courtesy photo.

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