sure thing larry......when i started my shop, i was making 22 dollars an hr, had great benefits and 4 weeks vacation....but i always wanted to be in business for myself....just thought it seem so excting to be the boss for a change.....i had an 3 yr old and a 11 year old when i quit my job....my wife worked and also had insurance so we had that covered....as i said earlier, i bought a used mill for $3500, had MSC finance me a 22 x 80 lathe, and ran up my credit cards to tool up the rest of my shop....i had my building and almost everything i needed in place before i quit my job, so i could start producing parts right away....i sent business cards and line letters to almost every business in town which i thought would need repair work done.....my first job came from the printing companyi used to print up my invoices...i spent most of the first couple of weeks looking for work, knocking on doors and telling people i have a small machine shop, would like a shot at doing your work if possible, will give you a competive price and 24 hr service.....before too long, work started rolling in, phone was ringing more and more, hired me an old man to make deliveries / pick up parts and tooling, and was off and running....that was mar of 1993.....now i have 4 full time machnists, 1 welder/mechanic, and a full time driver/cleanup guy.
was it hard at first...yes
did i work a lot of long hrs at first..yes
did i make alot of money at first.....not really, and most everything i made went back into the shop....bought new mig welder, tig welder, another milling machine, 2 more lathes....first years sales were less than 50k, but i put most of it right backin the shop.....dont know about you, but i can live pretty simple if i choose to....we lived off of my wifes salary...
would i do it again....in a new york minute i'd do it again......its a great feeling to come in on saturday morning and knock out a $1000 job in 4-5 hrs.....just ask your boss how it feels....if you will do it for him, why wont you do it for yourself?....
if you dont make it, then what happens, you go back to your old job and you dont spend the rest of your life wondering what if.....
but if you do make it, no better job satisfaction can be had....
running your own business isnt for everyone, but if you dont mind working hard and your family supports you, then by all means go for it!
Thanks for the feed back. #1 with us is Insurance. My wife does day care in our home so i need to carry our medical. She does very well with day care and i wouldnt want her to have to go out and work. She's done it for twenty years and loves it. I like knowing shes home safe all day anyways. I dont think i would do a machine shop. My dream is a small nursery biz. But only big enough to support us and not have people working for me. Its tough with three kids two that are in school yet..(sports meetings and everything) holding a full time job and then to find time to get this going. But you allready know that. Ive done alot of research and found places for containers and all the stuff for greenhouse growing and planting. Again its something you have to get going to get it established. Months of prep and work before you reap any benifits. Not that im one bit afraid of hard work. I think i just need a kick start [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img] to get me going.
<font color="blue"> I think i just need a kick start to get me going. </font color>
That is exactly the thing that I needed, too. Was working for one of the big tech companies and they decided that they needed my salary more than they needed me [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]. But it was just the ticket for me - I'm actually glad that it happened. I was really tired of living in a cubicle farm, and I'm already a lot happier on a "real" farm [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img].
'Course, it helps that my wife is still back in the 'cube farm...
The one thing that keeps me in the working world is the medical insurance. Here in NY we have the Free Health Familey Plus plan. Thats for the welfare folks though. I bet if i was unemployed they would tell me to go to work for minimum wage before i got it. Im not a free loader anyways. I was not brought up that way. My familey has never been in the "SYSTEM". Those fringe benifits of NY are usally passed down thru the generations. Parents never worked....kids dont work...their kids dont work and so on it goes. So into work i go....who are the smart ones [img]/forums/images/icons/confused.gif[/img]
Oh, I hear you. I'd be back into the "real" working world in a heartbeat if my wife didn't have insurance. Funny, isn't it, that insurance has become almost as important as a salary? But the good news for me is that she's really good at what she does and that she likes it. I'm really lucky to be able to focus on what I want to do instead of having to work at something I have to do.
I also know what you mean about staying out of the "system". That isn't something I'd want to do - might be snobbish, but I don't think that I should depend on the government to take care of me. I'd like them to leave me alone and I'll do the same for them.
Worms are on the way. Curious about how they'll be shipped... Could be interesting [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]. They'll live in a couple of boxes in the garage for a while, then some will be moving into the garden (they don't know that yet, but that's their life's plan [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]).
You're probably right about not being eligible for the free insurance, but NY has another plan which is designed for people with a small business. See this website for more info: http://www.ins.state.ny.us/healthny.htm . The cost is about $450/month for family coverage.
Good luck with the worm shipment. Becarfull though. I know a guy that bought 5,000 red worms just for fishing purposes. He had them on his porch and the cat wondered what was inside. The box was just a tad open and by the time he got home from work the cat took them inside and he had 5,000 worms imbeded in his living room carpet. [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] He said it was a complete disaster [img]/forums/images/icons/crazy.gif[/img] Once he got them all cleaned up we laughed about it. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I kinda wished i saw it [img]/forums/images/icons/ooo.gif[/img] Are you usesing them to fertilize your garden? I could see that being a good thing. My garden is full of worms. Heck the ground has just thawed here and i dug the ditch dor my pool electric. I found many many worms this spring allready.
Good luck, Larry
Wow, that is a bit much. I pay 25.00 per week for blue choice health plan. Does the NY plan have any kind of Dental, perscription and eyeglass benifit with that price. Do you use that plan? If so is it any good? I am going to be starting a small scale nursery sideline. Im setting things up to sell next spring. I have the perfect location and property for road side sales. And i am very iterested in it. So im going to begin that venture. Worm farming has many benifits for a nursery. They can work together when it comes to the compost end of it all. Ive been reading for about a year on both subjects. Its time to act on it as it really takes a couple seasons of growing to get going. Ive found good sorces for containers and supplies. Any tips or words of confidence from anyone on this venture?
Thanks Larry
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