Quote:
Originally Posted by GregWeld
Michael.
Maybe it's time to go back to night school while you still have the opportunity and the job to support it. There must be something in the industry you're in - that could tie your current skills in with something say more high tech, if you had the training.
Living in Washington - we have many loggers - they have NO skills outside of whacking down trees.. or pulling green chain in a mill... the problem with that is that it's so single focus. No logging - no mill - no job. They all seem to go down together. What they needed to do was gain some additional skills while the logging was still booming (It's always been boom or bust here).
My Brother in law used to hump roofing... I told him that he needed to quit actually DOING the roofing - and start to contract that out - run the jobs - and take a percentage... to which he replied "I can't afford to do that"... I told him he couldn't afford NOT to do that... because it's one thing to hump roofing when you're in your 20's - but you're pay is limited by how many square you can do in a day... and how long your body will take the abuse. So after awhile he DID start to become a roofing contractor... then remodeler... then he got into commercial work. Now he builds MiniStorage units in 3 states... has many employees and even today his work is booming. I'll take no credit except to start him thinking that he must make the effort to "change" his situation. The rest was up to him.
There has to be something for everyone - that they love to do... and, that they can earn a living at. The key is to take the chance.
I tell my kids - "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans"... and it's so true. What I don't want them to do is to forget about making their plans - setting goals - and working towards them. It's not a straight line... never is...
What separates the 'broke / on a budget' but good race car driver from another one -- is that the good driver can win in a crappy car... and when he does that... the guys with good cars take notice and say - wow! If that guy can win driving that POS... imagine what he could do if he was driving for my race team. That's making your own "luck" - was he lucky - or did he push on despite all the hard work - working nights so he could race on Saturday... which finally got him noticed.
Now.... if I could just get my wife to take that 3rd job... I'd be all set!
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Thanks for the reply! I have thought about school, the problem with that is I work swing shift. That makes going back to school impossible. I have tried to move to a different department in the mill so I can just work day shift but there are no openings. My company is trying to reduce the number of workers at our mill and our union contract expired about 16 months ago. If the company gets their way with the contract they are offering, they will be able to cut 20-25% of the workforce here(about 200-250 jobs). The town I live in has only 13,000 people and the job outlook here is very bad. There are alot of things I would love to do for a living. Living in such a small, older community makes it hard to start a business that will be successful. I have seen many people try to start a business here only to have it closed within a year, just not enough people to support it. Sorry for sounding so negative, just trying to give an idea what it's like here. I have thought about trying to start something online so location isn't a major factor to being successful. I do not have very much experience besides working on the family farm and the paper mill(I also filled oxygen cylinders for a medical co. for 5 yrs). Work ethic isn't a problem, I think my lack of experience and not having a degree is what's hurting me the most. If you don't mind me asking, what do you do and how did you get there? Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!
Michael.