O/T Changing careers in your mid 30's/building cars

I have some unskilled jobs open for about 15.00p/h......

 

$15.00 p/h here in Oregon right now is very good. Most companies want degrees, and years of experience and only want to pay $10.00 p/h. There is a higher cost of living in California though. If I could find an unskilled job here now for $15.00 p/h, I would be in great shape!

 

I was offered $12/hr to do sheetmetal fab. Gimme a break, I'm not 16 years old, I have bills to pay.

 

Did not think your post was negative in the slightest. You make some very good points and any advice and or stories are helpful. Thanks for taking the time to post.

 

Yeah, that is ridiculous! As if anyone can do sheetmetal fab. Disgusting what some people can make and or don't make. There is a string of coffee shops in Seattle, WA where the Barrista's wear bikinis and other miniscule attire and I heard recently that on average they make up to $700.00 per day in tips alone!!!!! Unbelieveable! I guess that I will change sexes, get a nice body, fake boobs (obviously), and make coffee for a living! SHHHH, don't tell anyone that I used to be a MAN!

 

I apologize if you thought I was criticizing you.

Sheetmetal fab sounds like skilled work to me, good luck hope it all comes together.

 

Oh, no, not at all. I was agreeing with you. Sheetmetal fab is definately a skilled job. What I was saying is that it is ridiculous that someone would offer $12.00 per hour for sheet metal fab. Way too low in my opinion. My point is that it is difficult to make a living doing skilled labor that not everybody can do, but you can put on a bikini, serve coffee, and make a fortune. Doesn't make sense to me....... I am getting off topic, of my off topic subject. I have not taken exception to anybodies post. All good advice and all helpful. Thanks everybody for taking the time to post your thoughts.

 

Look at it this way if you love building them, find the right customers and build the car of your dreams for them, they foot the bill and you get to run with your crazy ideas

Then again, you might have to drive a normal car to work and back, because you dont want to work on your own cars

 

No offense taken, maybe I came off the wrong way. My frustration was with the shop in question, just making the point that its hard to make money working in someones else's shop in my experience.

 

I changes careers in my early thirties. I was in the restaurant business, even owned one. Went back to scheool, got another degree and now I am a real life car deisgner. I also own a small design firm that lets me work on the old stuff too. I get to work future product, but I still love the old stuff.

 

I was in IT for 29 years, my commute was long (3 hours per day), and the job was just not what it was to me when I first got in to the field. So, I know how you feel - you are just "worn out" and have had enough. So, I took a "leap of faith" about 2 years ago and took on a PT position at the local college as an administrative assistant. It worked out great, I switched departments, got full time, and I'm lovin' life and work again. Sure I'm making alot less money but now the wife and I commute in together (it's only 5 miles each way), got rid of my new truck, no payments, no high insurance, and I have much more time to work on the things I enjoy like my cars and the house, I have more time for my wife, my family, my grandson, and I wear a smile every day. As someone else said, you'd be surprised at how little can make you happy.

Yes, it as tough for awhile but it all worked out and the stress level is way down (save for those isolated days that happen now and then) and I feel GOOD about me and what I'm doing. If you let it, work/a job will use you up, wear you out, throw you away and then they'll move on to the next person. They could give a rats ass about you - as long as the work gets done, that's all they care about.

Good luck to you - you'll be fine and things have a way of working out for those who really want it bad anough.

 

I say go for it! Best thing I ever did - switch from commercial photography to working in a hot rod shop at 30. Yeah if i've been out in the shop all day I'm not as motorvated to work on my own stuff, but the experience gained here has benefited my hobby time immeasurably. Good luck mate!

 

I think that anyone who is actually willing to ACTUALLY WORK and has a half a brain can pretty much do ok at whatever they want to do these days....

Oh yea, I almost forgot,,, Did I mention the part about being willing to work and having half a brain...

 

Played the corporate world for over 20 years, did ok overall. when my department got outsourced i was 58 and decided to start my own shop. Hobbied and hot rods and classics for all my life and thorght it would be fun to have my won shop. Here i am eight years later. Stressed out, bankrupt and just survived a major heart attack two months ago. I am borke, in poor physical health and have just sacraped together enough to open another shop, full on outlaw or underground whichever you call it. It will probably kill me, but I will got out happy and doing what I love to do. i don't think I can ask for much more. Just lay me out on top of my Snap On Tool box and have a car show at my shop as my wake. I don't ask for much more.

 

There you go, "Die with your boots on"!! My Dad died at 58 also as an insurance adjuster. I am not going out the same way!

 

If you're in your 30s by now it should be plainly obvious that the better money is in making and/or selling car parts. You're dealing with the same people and hardware and it's a lot more on your terms. And more likely to payoff in the long run.

 

Shifty, I know of some late model focused shops that make more on labor and fabrication than they do retail. I think the web has forced retail into a tight little range for profit.

I will say as a long time late model performance fan/custom/web site owner, I find the hot rod space to be interesting. There are a lot of crappy websites, and the number of folks who still rely on printed catalogs surprises me. Gary @ Nightprowlers is an example of that.

Do any of you guys make a decent living just selling old parts on eBay? Seems to me if you spent x hours a week buying stuff, and then the rest of your time listing it and shipping it, it could be a nice source of income.

 

My wife and I both are selling on Ebay. It is certainly helping us get by right now, but not sure about long term? The hard part is knowing what people want, and knowing what you can sell. The economy is so bad right now, that things we could sell easily at this time last year are not selling now. Ebay fees are going up and shipping costs are through the roof as well. We just sold an item for $230.00 and Ebay took $18.00! May not sound like much, but if you consider that Paypal took their chunk and the Post Office will take theirs as well, your profit is way down.

 

Man does all this sound so familiar,i work for Ford Motor Company in Chicago,Il. at the assembly plant where we make the Taurus and a couple of other vehicles.Iv'e been laid off since Nov./08 and things still don't look to good yet for anyone in automakers field,i to have been thinking of a carrer change and don't know what to do because all i eat/breathe/sleep,is cars and don't have enough experience to do it for a living!If i walked into a hot rod shop i probably would be laughed at and told to leave because of me inexpirience(if i was applying for a job) even though my heart is in it 100%.I have a chance to leave the company with a separation package but i'm scared shitless because there is nothing out there!Need benefits for the family and what not,you know the deal!That has been my life long dream to work on old cars and nothing but old cars!

 

True. My comments are not about local speed shop kinda places trying to retail to the guy that walks in. You'll never compete with the Summit, Jegs, & Speedways of this world with walk-in retail speed. When I say make & sell parts I mean in more of a national fashion. And the secret lies in being a retailer for all those hard to find, print catalog only vendors you talk about, and in stocking used parts for a specific thing you advertise as a specialty.

But really, selling parts you had manufactured is where it's at IMO. We pick on speedy bill a lot, but he's the business model in many ways.

 

don't do it..find yourself a good normal well paying job,,and you quit in this economy ?? wow

as for the ebay thing,,you loose nothing at the Post Office,,as buyer pays for shipping.

and yes as some have said parts is where to make your money,,also in doing it it will vastly improve your knowledge in cars.

 

Personally speaking, I've been willing to pay finders fees for parts, I haven't really had the time to dig around for stuff. Case in point the Studebaker wheel covers I bought from a guy in Canada. I basically got lucky. I got tired of looking and ran one more search and found them. I then overpaid him to motivate him to ship them.

 

In today's economy think 3 times before you jump ship and find yourself in deep water with not enough money to pay the bills. Family first. Cars second. There are many unemployed folks who would glady take your present job.

 

Even though this thread may be a little OT it's a damn good one.

Good life lessons to the wise.

 

I was in a similar boat -25 years in the IT field, hated the politics, the lying to customers that we were told to do and then in 2004 my new boss wanted his ego stroked more than anything. I don't play that game. It stressed me out to the point of spending the night in the heart ward because the doctors thought I was having a heart attack. My wife left a message on the bosses voicemail saying I wouldn't be in and why. He called 10 minutes before I was to take a tread mill test - had to hang up on him after he said "People die on those things". What an asshat. I was stupid enough and fearful enough to put up with it until they laid me off in June of 09. I live within 30 miles of you and have the same challenges with jobs that pay. When gas was 4.50 gal I was offered a job in Beaverton at 12 an hour - I would be paying to work. I'm 44 and approaching that age that folks would rather hire someone with smaller numbers in their age.

I buy and sell things, do odd jobs for people and have accomplished more on my property and in my shop in the last 7 months than I have in the last 7 years. Plus, when you consider the difference in making cash and making a wage, it is hard to think about a full time JOB with the freedom that I now have and the ability to make cash. But again, there is a sense of easiness that comes from a paycheck and insurance.

My .02$ - spend some time to reflect on who you are and what you want and how that can meet the needs of your family. Then go for it! Full speed, don't look back. Better to have tried something and failed than to be lying on your death bed and wondering what if.

Hey, if you want to meet up sometime say in Sandy over coffee and toss around ideas I'm up for that..

BTW - BOSS is just double S, O B spelled backwards.

Good luck...

 

i been in pro rod shops for ever and man the pay ain't good after 15 years and i sucks in the beging. best case u get 18$ for 40hr week and no overtime you'll be there like 70hr a week every shop i been in was pretty much a salary deal. long hours high stress i have an olser and had a heart attack. im 29 and i just flat out refuse to do sema cars anymore. allways rush rush try a sells rep or show promoter for large company like arp or bfg mothers ect. get to go to shows for free and low stress. i live 20 min from summit starts u at 8$ hr

 

I've been there and done both. I went from being a construction superintendent, super motivated when I got home, to work on my personal projects until it was just too late to be pounding and grinding. High stress, great pay.

Started getting a name for myself with some of my builds and styles. During the "billet chopper" craze I decided to capitalize on that and went full time. same enthusiasm, super long hours to deliver builds on time and just because I enjoyed it.

The decline in that style bike and the beginning of people not spending as much left me to scale back to building out of my home shop rather than the larger leased shop space.

My step-dad has a very large auto repair shop and his business was slowing. He offered me a bay of my own there, in an effort to maybe increase both his and my clients, and me make money being a mechanic when I wasn't busy building. That was a year and a half ago and saw my lack of interest in coming home to build and fabricate on my own projects. was feeling the proverbial shoe cobbler effect. I worked my ass off on cars every day and didn't feel motivated to sit down, eat dinner, then go out and pick up a wrench. I sat down, I was done.

I'm now enrolled in a machine shop class at our local City College, learning CNC mill and lathe work. I figured I could still tinker on my projects while learning a valuable trade aspect for when the economy picks back up. Until then, I pick up side jobs, welding and fabricating, treating it as if it's still a job, but find myself watching the clock for when I'm supposed to take off to school. Every day I'm in class I find myself thinking of how this new career may relate to the everyday car interest and how I may apply it to my own or my customer builds. Close enough to keep the spark alive, but far enough away to keep motivated when at home.

Sorry for the long version, but, myself, being 39 now and had dealt with the same situation, there and back, may give you some insight.

 

If you knew the whole story, maybe you would change your opinion? First I will address the Ebay thing. True, the customer pays for shipping, but we are constantly loosing on shipping charges because now on Ebay, you get graded on shipping charges that affects your rating. On Ebay, your rating is everything. If Ebay thinks your shipping is too high, they will contact you and ask you to lower it. So, we do loose at the Post Office.

As far as quiting in this economy, ask yourself what you would put up with. My boss was stealing from me (short paying me) and just flat out not paying me for work I had completed. I was a subcontractor, so none of the Oregon state employment laws apply. The only way to get money from him was to sue. I decided that instead of letting him screw me day in and day out, I would quit. What would you do?

 

Thank you, that is great advice! Meeting up for coffee in Sandy would be great! Always looking to meet new like minded people. You can PM me and we can figure out a time.

 

The trouble with most jobs is not the actual work but the people you work for. I used to be a heavy equipt operator. Almost every year i had to find a new job due to the last construction being completed.When you had good pleasnt foremen and superintendents and the inspectors we not picky i loved the work. Those jobs where rare mostly worked for assholes hated the job. Went to work for a old guy 70 years old running a antique 1958 D7 17a caterpillar cable dozer clearing land he didnt pay as much but he was a gem. Let me set my own hours Kept my own time card paid me every week and let me draw unemployment during the winter worked for him for 10 years . He retired at 80 when he finally banked a million dollars. I drive truck for a young guy now that is the same type of person. Work is slow now but i still like the job. Working as a mechanic spoiled my car hobby for me. My grandad stated if you like your work you never really work a day in your life. Also it is not how muck money you take in it is how much you get to keep. You time is the most valuable thing you have. when you work for someone else they are buying a part of your life for you to slove their problem. If that problem is not worth them being fair and respectful to the employee dont work for them.However you cant always quit you need to take care of your reesponsibilities. Try to find a way that you dont really need a job.. Become more self reliant and self sufficient. Good Luck OldWolf