Folks Of Interest All My Friends... Know The Lowrider...

You can always make more money - You will never get more time.

Great post - very timely.

Thanks and I hope you feel better tomorrow!

 

I retired from Ford in '02, having started in '63 as a designer, (called 'stylist' at that time), worked on many different programs through the years. The first was the '66 Lincoln interior and ended directing the small and mid size SUV and truck studios. Many interesting people and the design process was always a positive challenge for me.

 

About 3 years ago, I was so burned out I just wanted to walk away. The work itself was fun, but dealing with the demanding people who had no concept of what I do trying to be my manager, and unrealistic time schedules was driving me crazy. My wife had a good paying job, and we thought we could make it on her income 'till I found something else.

After more consideration, we decided that to be happy our changes needed to be more drastic. We wanted a simpler life, and more freedom. We decided to sell our big, beautiful house in a historic neighborhood that we both really loved, the BMW, a few other things and move to my grandfather's old ranch. I could run cattle until I found a job.

I had months of vacation saved up because I never used it, so spent a week or two a month taking off and working on the house to get it ready to sell in the spring. People at work were going ballistic because I wasn't there. Sorry... I was using my vacation time. Just not being there, and being able to sand away mindlessly on something was therapy.

During this transition period, my cousin was killed in a car accident. Though we hadn't talked in awhile, I still considered him one of my best friends. His job was head brewmaster at a micro-brewery, in a mountain town. He would make beer and go snowboarding all the time, and just lived his dream. Losing him was brutal, but it reaffirmed our decision, and made us work even harder. Life can end at any time, no matter how happy or miserable you are. You can choose a path that makes you happy, while still planning for your family and tomorrow. How do you want to go out?

We sold our house, and the BMW, and paid off all of our bills. We moved into a rental, and I spent a year and a half building a small house out on the farm. Every weekend, and a few nights a week. It's been miserable, and more difficult than I imagined, but I wouldn't trade those days laying down decking on the roof in the rain, or digging a septic trench in 100 degree weather for anything.

I've had the same job this entire time, and it's actually quite tolerable now. I still plan to open my own business so that I no longer have to work for somebody else, but I have a few loose ends to tie up. Just knowing that my little 2 bedroom house is paid for, and that I can leave whenever I want with no financial consequences makes the stress go away. I no longer have a problem telling somebody to F off (nicely though), when they can't figure out why I don't have a multi-db web application built from scratch and running in 3 days. I can think more clearly and get things done more efficiently now that the mountain of work is no longer my master. I'm a better employee for it.

If I do have a stressful day, by the time I get done feeding and talking to the cows, everything is better, and I can just sit on the porch playing with my kids while watching the sun set.

I guess the point of my long post is that you don't need to make a sudden, rash decision just because it worked out really well for someone else. Especially if you have a family to support. Make yourself a road map to get to your happy place. Whether it's finishing school and building a business so that you can sell it and open your Rod Shop, or it's just getting out of that crap hole you work at and moving to an island.

Oh, and thank you, Ryan, for reminding me that I did make the right decision, even if it's been a long time coming.

 

I just got over the "Sickness" that you have sucked.. it lasted about 2 weeks.. coughing
up lungs is awesome...

But after reading this I realize that you and I live a life alike... My suit and tie was a
long sleeve dress shirt to cover up my Tattoos ( Lame since I work for a Production Company that had clients with full sleeves) but thanks to you and the HAMB I took the same leap of fatih and started Mad Fabricators and never looked back... you helped me
create what I do and you will never know how much you mean to me..... sappy....

hahahahaha

I love Ryan and the HAMB

Feel better see you in a few.....

 

Some wise words there. Thanks for posting.

 

That is really cool, and a great job for sure. I interned at Yamaha for 4 months but couldn't sit still and sketch all day. I thought it was my dream job but turns out it wasn't. I would like to try my hand at building clays and prototypes next.

 

I am so fortunate to have a job I really like. I have been at it for 18 yrs now, and hope to keep working till I'm 70.
I have had jobs that I hated to go to, I know that can be hell....

 

Been there, done that, Ryan. Got to the point where I REALLY hated my job, a position I hadn't ever been in before. Got so bad I arranged a meeting with the boss to sort it out. By the end of the meeting, I'd resigned.

Started working for myself (in IT), but used the opportunity to chase my real dream, which was to work as a journalist for hot rod magazines.

Been doing more and more journo stuff, and less and less IT stuff for the last five years.

If you really do enjoy what you do, then you will be successful. I never really enjoyed the IT stuff, and although I had a pretty decent career, I never really rose to any great heights.

When it comes to writing stories about hot rods though, I'm a dead set legend!

 

I know where your coming from...
years of working in an office with the scum of the earth then working in marketing with assholes who have no life other than work I sat in the office and looking round realised there was no one I worked with I wanted to have a beer with...and they all thought I was some sort of oddball as i rode a funny motorbike and liked really silly cars.....
6 weeks later I had organised my own demise and was out a there..Feb 14 2003....new start and new life....I had done all the "investment for the future" shit we have been told to do for years yet couldn't afford a decent vacation or car...even a decent daily so a rod was way off the scale...working your bollocks off to maintain a level of ownership is a fucking waste of time....... A year later I had sold all the investments...paid of the house and all those loans and credit shit you get dragged in to.....and had the best Rod I am ever gona own...I earn less now than I did 6 years ago and am back working in an office...but I wana go for a beer (and have done several times) with most of the people I now work with...I have no pressure to earn a shit load of cash......I make films with Surf Monkey and we're about to launch ray gun gear tee-shirts...they won't/don't make much but it's what we like to do....

If your pissed off at work do sumat about it....don't just take shit and moan.

 

the guy on the Sam Adams beer ad said it best "get a job that you love and you will never work a day in your life"
i did the business world thing and got fed up with people that wanted to use you till they used you up. i opened up a handy man service and love it. i do different things every day. if i want to lay out for a day or so i make my apointments for tomorrow. total freedom and i couldn't think of doing it any other way.
my dad told a long time ago that he never heard of a man laying on his death bed saying "i wish i would have worked more"

 

Cohenas.this is why you.ve got time to be a T.V.star

 

I just got back from a surf, now I'm heading up to University to take in a CAD/CAM lecture. Tough to do that with a 9-to-5 job.

 

My transition was not as big as some of the others here. But I spent 7 years building someone else's practice with promises that I would become a partner. But year after year there were excuses about why it couldn't happen this year.

I finally got the courage to leave (with much prodding by my wife to do it) and my last day at my former employers office was on October 31st 2 years ago.

Halloween has become a much more important day for me. I still do the same work (and I have to wear a shirt and tie most days) but I can do things the way I want when I want.

 

Wow, sounds like you're were you need to be Ryan. I know how you feel, I wore a tie for sixteen years chasing a dream I don't think I even understood. Had some hard times and woke up. I work on my own schedule now for a small oil and gas support company and make more money and have a great time doing it. Funny how things work out in the crazy world. Great article. You found your callin'.

 

WOW....Amen.
I read that like 5 times.

 

Study hard, or work hard...no matter how big the building, or small the shop is, the view is always better on top.

One day I may walk off the trading floor and go another way, but with out a few very unpleasant years behind me, it would be a long time coming to get where I am today. You can only work so many 80 to 100 hour weeks.

 

This was a great post, best I've read in a while. It's been about 5 years now that I quit my normal job to part out old cars in a shop called the Potter Meat Market (the sign came with the building). '08 was my best year by far, and if I can get my income taxes paid, '09 should be even better.

My "moment" came talking to a guy I was working with. After I spent 2 years in school learning welding and metal fab, I had a fab job and one of the guys I was working with was in his 50's. After less than a year I was getting burnt out on 50 hour weeks, with 2 hours of commute time every day. My co-worker mentioned in a conversation how he had been doing this since he was 18, and all I could think about is, do I really want to repeat this week after week for the next 30 years?

That was my moment, and I haven't looked back. Best decision I have ever made. And even in the slowest times, I've found a way to pay the bills and the mortgage.

 

excellent read Ryan & all! thanx . . . btt....

 

Man! I think that's what most of us dream of! Congrats! And thanks for all you do for us fellow greaseballs!

 

So very odd how this thread came around at this time. I've been thinking on and off about going out on my own (I.T.), because i'm tired of helping my bipolar boss try to keep his thing afloat. I feel a need to be in charge of my own life. Although I would like to try my hand at writing for car magazines.

 

Way to go Ryan. That was probably one of the best blogs I've ever read. Bar none. Benefits are good and all but if you're miserable while earning those benefits, then they're not really beneficial are they?

 

Mine would take a year to write (I've been involved in a LOT of things). I'll start the first day of a co-op engineering education with General Motors. Ran into a guy at his last day on the job (retiring), shook his hand and congratulated him. He responded "Don't congratulate me, I've worked here for 42 years and I hated every fucking minute of it". WOW!! Way to start my career at my favorite car company (Chevrolet). Made a vow to myself I wouldn't be that guy 42 years from then. Stuck it out for a few years, had a wife,son and a morgage. One day going in to work I realized I was walking in a herd of sheep who, like me, were waiting for the whistle to blow that dictated every move you made once inside. That was my last day at GM.
Life took a different path after that and I've never done anything I didn't like for more than 24 hours since. I've had a couple of businesses,the last one being the best, a metal fabrication shop building components for one of the countrys most successful oval track suppliers and doing special chassis projects (pro street, drag, oval track and tractor pulling ) that interest me.
On July 13, 1988 life took a different path when an industrial garage door weighing over 800 lbs. collapsed on me while I was walking under it. 3 1/2 years in the hospital, 7 brain operations, 1 1/2 years in a rehab hospital learning how to walk, dress myself, feed myself and write my name gave me a real appreciation of what life is really all about, and it's not busting your ass trying to fulfill some fantasy dream that someone else "thinks " is right for you. Shakespear said, "to thine own self be true", think about it. that and an unwavering faith in God is all you need. Catch me sometime and I'll tell you the rest.

Frank

 

That's the first time I've read the Low Rider story. Ryan that a cool story for so many reasons. It's the little moments in life that lead up to the big ones. Most people don't understand that. It made my day Thanks.