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Author Topic: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.  (Read 8040 times)

Offline Pawtucket Patriot

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #30 on: April 21, 2011, 07:51:34 am »
Why the focus on being rich or wealthy?  I guess  :Pif that's your bag, more power to you.  I'd like to have a comfortable life, but I have no interest in pursuing wealth just for the sake of it.  You can't take it with you, man! ;)

Oh I agree with you 100%, but I'm just saying if you wanna make money you don't necessarily have to be your own boss.

My comment wasn't directed at anyone in particular, just putting it out there. I was just reminded of something someone told me once: making a lot of money isn't that tough to do if that's all you care about. What I'm more concerned with is finding work that makes me happy. That said, I do enjoy the prospect of not having to worry so much about making ends meet. I wouldn't have gotten an advanced degree if that didn't matter to me.
Matt Schwandt | Minneapolis, MN
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Offline corkybstewart

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #31 on: April 21, 2011, 08:11:28 am »
Answering to an employer is going to make you wealthy?  hmm...
I had my own business for 12 years and loved it but between taxes and insurance I was making 60% of what i make now working for the company I started with 30 years ago.  I decided to let my boss pay the taxes and insurance as long as he payed me what i had been making on my own.  Now I'm prez of 3 companies, making good money and most days I'm really finished with any serious work by lunchtime at the latest.  Except for the fact that I have employees I actually do enjoy my job.
There's certainly no guarantee you'll get rich as an employee, but also none that you'll get rich working for yourself. 
Life is wonderful in sunny White Signal New Mexico

Offline thirsty

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #32 on: April 21, 2011, 08:53:23 am »
Depends on what kind of job it is and your personality. I know a few people who have their own business. A bunch of them are far from rich and are really struggling to make as much as they did working for the man. Like anything else, it's a trade off.

Offline denny

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #33 on: April 21, 2011, 09:12:36 am »
I spent 30 years running a business that started out as something that I loved to do.  By the time I closed the business last June, I could hardly stand to be there any more.
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Offline weithman5

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #34 on: April 21, 2011, 09:15:41 am »
love what i do, however, i am one of the shareholders in our practice. but as we have grown there is increased bickering and political viewpoints.  if it weren't for all the government meddling i would step back out on my own.  for the most part though, i can do things the way i can set my own hours and that ain't too bad.
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Offline gmac

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #35 on: April 21, 2011, 09:27:31 am »
As for starting your own business, I have a very specific skill set that really isn't applicable to much else so that would be tough.  But, I have to say, I'd love to find something and give it a shot.
Sure, it's no guarantee of riches and happyness but for me the question is:  Do I want to be poor and miserable on my own terms or someone elses? 
If you fail, at least you can say you tried.

Offline corkybstewart

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #36 on: April 21, 2011, 09:34:03 am »
As for starting your own business, I have a very specific skill set that really isn't applicable to much else so that would be tough.  But, I have to say, I'd love to find something and give it a shot.
Sure, it's no guarantee of riches and happyness but for me the question is:  Do I want to be poor and miserable on my own terms or someone elses? 
If you fail, at least you can say you tried.
Specific skill set?  hah, try being a wirleline electric log QC and analyst for the oil companies.  There are job possibilities but they all involve living either in an oil town like OK City, Denver or Houston, or living in a podunk hole in the middle of the oilfield like Carlsbad NM or Midland Texas. 
regardless of what you do there is almost always somebody you have to answer to though there are rewards to not having an official "boss" to answer to.  When  I was consulting I took a month vacation every summer and went to the beach or to my in-laws in France.  I just told my clients ahead of time and I had a couple of consultant friend that covered for each other when one of us was unavailable.  Now I can't do that and the wife doesn't really understand.  I was 48 years old before I had my first job with normal, set hours and I'm actually very happy with it.
Life is wonderful in sunny White Signal New Mexico

Offline beersk

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #37 on: April 21, 2011, 11:54:11 am »
My advice to anyone attending college is to have an exact goal in mind and work towards it. If you don't have this after the first two years you are probably going to waste your efforts. Sure there'll be a diploma and all that but it is possible to graduate college without gaining any real skills or pertinent knowledge. I estimate the majority end up in this situation and find themselves working jobs they don't like and never expected to do in the first place.


The point you make is spot on THESE DAYS.  When I went to college, a degree was all you needed to get a job.  It didn't really matter what it was in, as long as you had one.  When I graduated 5 years later, that had all changed.  A degree in anything didn't matter, because EVERYONE these days has a degree.  You're fukked if you don't have one, you're fukked if you do.  It's the people that get them in specific fields and have a plan when they go to college that get the good jobs.  Other than that, they're like me, working in a job I had no intention of doing that doesn't even require a fakkin' degree.  
College is so damned overrated.  Used to be that it proved to potential employers that you care, that you went the extra mile to gain more education.  But that's of no consequence today.
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Offline punatic

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #38 on: April 21, 2011, 01:26:30 pm »

I provide the best value I can and have a great time doing it.


My job is different every day.  One day I'll be on a boat taking dissolved oxygen and salinity readings in nearshore ocean water.  The next I'll be at 11,000 ft. up the side of Mauna Kea taking soil samples for a phase II EA on a remote transmitter site.  The day after that I'll be repairing a leaky concentrate port on a RO pressure vessel for a water treatment plant, the next working with a rancher on a rainwater catchment system for watering his cattle.

Sometimes I understand how the astronauts feel when they work on an EVA.  Working away, concentrating on the job at hand, stop to rest a second, look up, realize where I am, and get goose bumps in awe.

This didn't happen by accident.  I studied really hard for my knowledge, worked really hard for my experience, and figured out a way to apply it in the place I most want to be. Without my college education I would not know much of what I need to be able to do the things I do.

The money part is lagniappe.  I would be happy doing this if all I could afford to eat was fish and rice.

Anyone can find a million reasons not to be successful.  The tough part is making the paradigm shift to realizing success is posible and being happy is OK.  It just takes work, but that work can be a lot of fun if you let it.

I have very wealthy clients who are not happy.  What's the point?
There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way.


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Offline SpanishCastleAle

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #39 on: April 21, 2011, 01:47:27 pm »
I think college helped me to get a job that I hate and make modest money as opposed to working a job I hate and making no money.

I spent 30 years running a business that started out as something that I loved to do.  By the time I closed the business last June, I could hardly stand to be there any more.
This is why I don't think I'd want to open a brewery/brewpub.  Even playing in bar bands got to be something I dreaded.  I think I just hate work.

Offline denny

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #40 on: April 21, 2011, 02:23:52 pm »
This is why I don't think I'd want to open a brewery/brewpub.  Even playing in bar bands got to be something I dreaded.  I think I just hate work.

I played in bar bands for years.  Then I got a job building some of the first professional digital audio equipment for musicians and studios.  Went from that to touring as a tech with big name rock bands.  Finished by opening my own studio, which I ran for 30 years.  All of those sound like dream jobs to a lot of people, and they all started off great.  But eventually, every one of them came down to something I had to do every day whether I felt like it or not.  I dunno, maybe it's just my nature, but it's made me realize I love beer stuff too much to ever make it a job.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline jeffy

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #41 on: April 21, 2011, 02:30:13 pm »
This is why I don't think I'd want to open a brewery/brewpub.  Even playing in bar bands got to be something I dreaded.  I think I just hate work.

I played in bar bands for years.  Then I got a job building some of the first professional digital audio equipment for musicians and studios.  Went from that to touring as a tech with big name rock bands.  Finished by opening my own studio, which I ran for 30 years.  All of those sound like dream jobs to a lot of people, and they all started off great.  But eventually, every one of them came down to something I had to do every day whether I felt like it or not.  I dunno, maybe it's just my nature, but it's made me realize I love beer stuff too much to ever make it a job.

I agree.  I tell people that I have already ruined one good hobby by going pro.  30 years ago I enjoyed tinkering with cars.  Now they just look like problems. 
I often wonder if that's what a brewing job would turn into.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
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Offline gmac

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #42 on: April 21, 2011, 02:30:35 pm »
I don't know, I just had this conversation with the Mrs. last night.  I'd love to open a brew pub.  Yes, I know it won't be just hanging around the bar, pouring beer for appreciative customers, it'll be long hours, tonnes of cash for licenses, insurance and everything else but I'd still love to give it a try.  I'm 40 now and we discussed if this is something that would be worth working towards by the time I'm 45.  Would it work out, who knows but man it would be sweet to give it a try.  99.8% chance it won't happen but why the heck not?  If I did it and grew to hate it, sell and go do something else.  

p.s.  when I type 40, it looks so old.  I don't feel 40.  I'm gonna change it to 39+.

Offline gordonstrong

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #43 on: April 21, 2011, 02:32:52 pm »
I agree.  I tell people that I have already ruined one good hobby by going pro.  30 years ago I enjoyed tinkering with cars.  Now they just look like problems. 
I often wonder if that's what a brewing job would turn into.

This is *exactly* why I resist all pushes to go pro.  It's fun now.  I want it to stay that way.
Gordon Strong • Beavercreek, Ohio • AHA Member since 1997 • Twitter: GordonStrong

Offline Bret

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Re: Man, work is p!$$!ng me off.
« Reply #44 on: April 21, 2011, 02:35:08 pm »
I agree.  I tell people that I have already ruined one good hobby by going pro.  30 years ago I enjoyed tinkering with cars.  Now they just look like problems. 
I often wonder if that's what a brewing job would turn into.

This is *exactly* why I resist all pushes to go pro.  It's fun now.  I want it to stay that way.
I wonder how Majorvices (Keith) feels about it so far? Particularly considering his run of bad luck.
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