Felix Gonzalez knew that he wanted to run his own business as soon as he had a taste of being a business owner. Mr. Gonzalez owns Big Sky Surveying, a micro-enterprise that provides land surveying, construction staking and GPS services. He started Big Sky Surveying after another small surveying business he was working for closed its doors. He had already received his surveying license before that business failed and he thought "I can do this myself," so he started his own business.

Felix Gonzalez of Big Sky Surveying with his robot.

The first few years he did struggle with the business and finding those first clients was a challenge. However, through hard work, now Big Sky Surveying has accumulated a number of clients. Mr. Gonzalez discovered that working for himself is rewarding but also requires much more effort than working for someone else. "I never knew I was capable of doing so much work," stated Mr. Gonzalez. Now, he has more work than Felix himself can complete. This is why he bought a robot.

A local business that sells robotic surveying equipment lent Mr. Gonzalez some robotic equipment to work on a project when one of his workers didn't show up. He was able to immediately double the amount of work he could complete. "Robots don't call in sick, they can work 24 hours a day and I don't have to pay employment taxes on them," Mr. Gonzalez said. Now he uses the robotic surveying equipment extensively and they have allowed him to expand his output without adding employees.