Keep the corporate job with benefits that allows time for your family. Do all your car **** as a side job.... in this economy , you will starve yourself & lose your family if you screw up ! the advise above is the best you can get ! im 63 yrs old & trust me he is correct ! you need the benifits for sure & a steady income today is PRICELESS !!!! try doing without your bennies for just 1 week !!!!!!!! for medical ins , if my wife didnt have good hospitalization , i would be on VA . with my illness i would suffer greatly as they dont pay for the BIG MEDS . some of my meds are 2500$ / per week & i have several . you may not be sick today , but you never know . i was well one day & big time sick the next ! also had 3 heartattacks in 2 days ! talk about hundreds of thousands of $$$$$ in medical bills .thank god for medical ins. im a born & bred car nut , but no way i could support my life & cars self impoyed . i am mechanical & have worked as a mechanic for chevy / farm equipment / etc . but the best money i ever made was driving truck long haul . means home for a day every 2 months ! please pay attention to the guys here who have been hot rodders all their lives . its not a cheap hobby today . only a few very good people can make a GOOD living at it ..................... good luck & hope you do well .......... steve
Dude your timing is soooo bad. Give it a couple of years....Maybe your wife is tired of all the complaining.
DO NOT I REPEAT DO NOT QUIT YOUR DAY JOB....all the guys before me have said it...do it for the hobby,when you get the first one sold by another to build...it takes alot of time and talent,persistance,money,and paitence to turn hotrods for cash. who knows you might not like doing your hobby all day everyday.... just my .02 Brian.
If you want to know the best way to learn, I know that I learned a ****load by taking a job at a restoration shop. I didn't make much $ for a while but I learned so much. If you're slow at your regular job, see if you can get a part time job working in someone else's shop. Tell them you're willing to work really cheap because you want to learn, and that you have a day job so they don't have to worry about unemployment and all that ****. I went to tech school for welding and metal fab and I learned alot but not so much as far as automotive restoration goes. And the body shop cl***es that most tech schools offer focus on crash repair/insurance stuff, most of what you'll learn there doesn't transfer over well in restorations and hot rods. Granted, between the two jobs, you might be working 60+ hours a week, but you'll be doing that with your own shop too. If the family can't take it, you can just quit your side job and go back to normal, nothing lost. If you make some extra money with the second job, try to set that aside for tools and such.
Lots of good advice here. You have already made the decision re current employment. The next step would be to get a project and use the skills you have plus take nightcl***es to fill in the gaps. Enjoy your hobby for what it is... a hobby. Once the economy picks up (and it will) and your skill set is up, go thru the business plan idea. It sounds as though your main skills are in the running of a business. So once you have gone through the business plan, find someone with a good rep whose looking to to do the same thing and maybe form a partnership. While this may sound long term, it is.. You can't walk before you run. My 2 cents worth.
. I already chimed in once, but I read your intro again and must reply to the "between the lines" that I'm feeling. It sounds almost like "she" is ragging on you because she thinks you should be making more money. You say she said 'either do what you need to do to make it happen or move on. My question is, make what happen? The years and years of not pulling the trigger..?? From what you have told us you have been advanced in your job, and now it's boring. Hey that's great! Getting paid for being bored isn't all bad. Do the job, don't take it home with you and live your life. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but they are never happy. They can always figure out where to spend the money we spend on our hotrods, and that's the nature of the beast. It's the nesting instinct. If you were making double what you are making now, she would know how to spend it, and would still be telling you the same stuff. We only have one life, and we should do with it what we want, but when a man already has a job, to consider changine just for comfort, is taking a big chance. On the other hand, you might be complaining a lot to her about your job and that you aren't happy with it. If that is so, I would lay off the dreaming of better things and be satisfied that I'm paying the rent. Family of 4; When I got to the limit I could support I got a vasectomy. For the next 30 years *** was all play and better too, with no worry! Right after the upcoming depression will be plenty of time to start a new career!
x2 I do it for a living and it aint all that. Its back breaking for sure, and they are dirty nasty 50 year old turds covered in rust and rat **** all falling in your eyes.....kinda just becomes another job. Plus No benefits, I pay $700 a month for health insurance...
Thank you all for taking the time to lend your advice, I'm very lucky to have such a wealth of knowledge at my finger tips that the HAMB provides to us all. 1. There is alot of advice from most of you that I will be taking to heart and working on. 2. Some of you can't read. I didn't say I wanted to quit my job and open a shop on monday. I simply wanted advice on the best road to lead me to that opportunity and grow my abilities. 3. I have the chance every morning to wake up to the ***iest and most loving woman in the world. Her do it or shut up is more of= "I want to either take the steps you need to learn what you talk so much about wanting to do or relax about it" Not make a bunch of money so I can spend it all you worthless man. 4. Again I can't say thank you enough to the HAMB and all of you guys who make it what it is and are so willing to help out anyone. 5. Now anyone want to trade a nice shiny Snap on tool box for a project sled and a mig welder.
I agree with what many here are saying about keeping the day job, but the quote above caught my attention. If you have internet access and free time at work why not set up a car related online retail business. That way you keep the steady paycheck, make extra cash for your car "hobby" and still keep yourself immersed in car culture every day. Good Luck in whatever you decide.
every morning to wake up to the ***iest and most loving woman in the world. my point exactly ! keep her , i did . had her for 44 yrs + 3 . by far my best investment !!!! ...... steve
I can relate to your spot, after 4 years of marriage, my wife was tired of me *****ing about working for other people. I have an engineering degree and was knocking down some good change, we were on our 2nd house, hot rods, projects, and ****load of payed off tools in the garage. I got **** canned for refusing to do something that was imoral, if not illegal. I went home started finishing some projects around the house and told her I was not going back to the corporate world. She supported my decision, some times I wonder why. I ended up starting a company with a buddy that had been in his industry for 20 years. I sold the house, moved 250 miles, leased a home for 2 years, liquidated all the toys etc....I lived for 1 1/2 years with no income working 80 hours a week. We put the new company in the black in 7 months, but getting the extra funds to actually draw a salary took another 10 months. It has been a great learning experience and I am actually thinking about starting another company (on my own with out a partner) to diversify my intrest. I disagree with some of the post about starting a business in a down economy in general, HP was started during the Great Depression. There are days when being self employed ****s, but there are days when it is great! I haven't slept worth a **** in 3 nights, it is 1:00 AM and I am up juggling finances, we have $80K in receivables out and our jobs average $250 per pop. Yep we still have to make payroll, and my creditors don't give a damn about my customers not paying. The problem with being self employed is that it is on your mind 24/7, or you are not doing your job. The upside is that when I am stressed I can go out in the shop and get away from the work for a bit. All in all I am glad that my business is not my hobby. Johnboy
Every Post to your question hit the nail on the head! In addition to those replies ask yourself...Is the income from this hobby currently equal to or more than my day job? Do I have a wait list of people requesting my services? Can I start with what I have, where I am and grow from there as the business grows, and, if not can I afford the overhead. One of the biggest business killers I've seen around here is OVERHEAD. Young hopefuls start out good in their backyard, get ambitious and move into a place with high rent/utilities. Business starts out slower than imagined or business slows for period and they end up in a frenzy trying to pay 2 mortgages, 2 sets of utilities, feed and cloth the family, etc...Doors Close/Family is at odds/old job is gone/new jobs (the ones that you can survive on) are sc****. Like many have told you here, for the time being, stay with the hobby, get some skills, buildup your tool inventory/revenue/customer base.
chaz hit the nail on the head ..i did what he said for 15 years then we got slow i was flooded at home so told the wife i was doing my own thing .. and ill tell ya it sounds good on paper i work twice as hard as i ever did at my job you dont have a pay check every week and if you make 5 or 8 k on a job you better not buy nothing ..cause home living will eat it up fast worken for your self is cool ..but its not easy and time flys if you do it make sure you have no debts when you start thats what i did . go legal the tax right offs are insane get ya a good accountant what ever you do good luck with it times are tuff for sure...
when I made the jump, I made sure I had no debt except for my house and all of the equipment I needed was already bought. I was working on making the jump for 2 years getting prepared and debt free, and building a reputation and client list etc etc. I seem to be working harder, but for myself and all has been going super, PC work is used in so many industries and my client list is so diversified, we are doing ok and it looks like we should be ok in a ****py economy with all the various industries we serve. I'm not scared yet
You're in the same boat I'm in but I chose to do what all the folks above recommend until a car resume is built. If you're making a good income, rent a shop and get to work. I spend more than I should on the shop but in the end, it will all work out. If you're fortunate enough to live in an unzoned area, build the shop behind your house and go from there. You'll learn by building. Get busy.
I'll share some advice. I spent 20 years building cars and bikes as a hobby and side job while I served in the Army. The entire 20 years I knew that I was going to open a shop someday and I bought and hoarded away tools with any extra money I had. Nine months ago I opened that shop. I had a detailed business plan that took me two years to write. I built my shop on my own property. I had no bills and almost 30k in cash. And I have a wonderful, mostly supportive wife who makes very good money. What I didn't have, is any idea how to market in this industry. In this business there is no way you will make it without a widespread reputation for quality. When I retired from the Army I moved from Georgia to Texas. Nobody knew me here in Texas. I had no reputation. I pissed away half my startup money on advertising that has produced zero results thus far. The rest of my startup money went to equipment and setting up the shop. I now have no cash left. I have a decent sized job in the shop right now but nothing behind it. Building the cars is great. Building a business is not. Building a business in a difficult industry during hard times is a nightmare. Build your own cars and get them out in the public eye as much as possible before ever opening the shop. Network, network, network! Know your market. The guy with a 9 to 5 job that wrenches on his beater himself is not your market. Successful small business owners and retirees are your market. Plan on spending 25% of your time actually building cars and 75% handling all the business BS. Finally, if you don't have the skills to do high quality work, then you are years out from being ready to do this.
we are two friends. I'm having a full time job - more or less pay'd ok. My buddy has a 50% job and works part time on cars. I'm doing it on one or two evenings and most saturdays. It's great to do this and if everything is ok (price, buyer and my mood) I sell a car just to finance another one and have fun building/restoring and then driving it! BUT: when you have to live from selling cars...well I don't know! Here in Europe it's hard these days... have a look at my and my buddy's "fun thing": www.cooltoys.ch
Went out to my friend's pro shop the other day. Not to long ago he had 15 cars in process. But the ranks are thinning out as he finishes up jobs. And not much is comming in. Not the best time to be opening a business that runs on discretionary spending.
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