My father had a side hustle of repairing dental handpieces on the kitchen table after dinner, and he cultivated a network of dentists that allowed us to live a nicer life than we could otherwise afford. For vacation we would visit a timeshare resort where he identified himself as Dr. SomebodyElse. We never got new bicycles, but whenever we needed our first or a replacement, he could always get us one that had been previously used by some dentist's child who had moved on to a car.
Eventually I noticed our neighbors were always better off than we, but I didn't realize until later how unusual it was to move every year and a half or so, yet always staying within the same metro area. We would house-sit for people on important overseas assignments, highly educated people who moved in some of the same circles as dentists, and therefore who my father got to know too.
In one of these houses the owners had left their piano, so my mother insisted we start piano lessons, but after we moved again, chances to practice were scarce. My father found out that a piano dealer was trying to introduce a certain piano into our state. He struck a bargain that if he could sell 10 pianos the dealer would give him one for free, and he went right to work with his dentists. They did not fail him. We got our free piano, and thanks to my late father's lifehack I have it in my house now.
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