d_rock81
New Contributor
Cleaning out the toolbox
I've finished reading the fastlane millionare, and am about halfway through unscripted . It hit a switch.
I have a good set of tools. I better, as i've been collecting them my entire life. One of the first "switches" in my life happened at the age of 14. my dad had on old 1974 plymouth duster rotting away behind the garage. When I struck up a conversation about it to him he told me when I was 16 I could have it. Of course I immediatly decided that since it was going to be mine anyway, I should start "fixing it up" now without the permission from my dad so one summer I grabbed some of my dads craftsmen wrenches and started to just start taking shit off. That started my hot rod obbsession.
My hot rod obsession overcame me and has been my life untill this day, with a few breaks here and there. In high school, I dreamed of one day working in a real hot rod shop. I would buy all the car magazines down at the gas station by my house and read them cover to cover. During the weekends I would pull all nighters putting in the next part on my Duster. New cam, new heads, cool shifter, stero system. It didnt matter I loved wrenching, my best friend loved it too. He also had his own hot rod, and when I wasn't wrenching on mine I was wrenching on his. Hot rods where my life.
What I didnt know, was is it was prepping me for a lifestyle on the sidewalk.
I never went to colledge after high school, instead, I took jobs that would teach me a skill.
I worked at a factory that built oil tanks. Started out on the bandsaw, had a guy show me how to weld on my lunch break, then spent every lunch break after that practicing until I could pass a welding test. I worked at a store putting on truck accessories, installed stereos and learned wiring. Spent 7 or so years rouphnecking on oil rigs just because they paid so well.
As the internet started comming around it was amazing. I could learn anything! I started learning everything I could. I also started working in some of the first "real" shops. If I didn't know how to do something when asked, I would say I did, go home that night and teach myself untill 2 or 3 in the morning and then go do it the next day. I started getting paid pretty good, not great, but pretty good. Every dollar comming in, was going out on tools. By this point I wanted my own shop. I was tired of working on other peoples cars, I wanted to build the cars that I wanted to build. So i needed a shop, and I also needed a lot of expensive equipment to go into this shop. I decided on buying the equipment one piece at a time untill I could find a shop.
Fast forward to today, I have a yard full off equipment, sitting under canvas "car canopies" and still no shop. I have a house, and a place to put one...but no shop. I started to realize, everthing I've been doing and learning up untill now, has been to teach me how to trade my time for money. I don't even love "doing what you do" anymore. I'm told all the time how lucky I am to be able to work on cool cars all day, when all I really feel is trapped.
Then I read the book, and it hit a switch.
I've spent my entire life teaching myself how to trade my time for money.
I have learned some other valuble things along the way also though. I love to learn how things work, and because of that I've developed a MASS of information on all subjects that just make things work. electronics, structural engineering, programming, arduino, cad software, hydraulics, phumatic, I could go on and on. When stuff breaks, I fix it. whether it be the tv or the air conditioner, I can fix it, because I know how it works. I've also enginerred a few products just for myself using a 3d printer I designed and built, arduino, and other forms of gagetry. At one point I even considered starting a prototyping company for people needing prototypes built.
So its time to clean out the mental toolbox. get rid of some of the tools I don't need, keep the ones that add value and put some of these new tools I've learned from the book to good use. It flipped a switch in my thought processes and I feel I truly do see the world around me in a different light.
Thank you.
I've finished reading the fastlane millionare, and am about halfway through unscripted . It hit a switch.
I have a good set of tools. I better, as i've been collecting them my entire life. One of the first "switches" in my life happened at the age of 14. my dad had on old 1974 plymouth duster rotting away behind the garage. When I struck up a conversation about it to him he told me when I was 16 I could have it. Of course I immediatly decided that since it was going to be mine anyway, I should start "fixing it up" now without the permission from my dad so one summer I grabbed some of my dads craftsmen wrenches and started to just start taking shit off. That started my hot rod obbsession.
My hot rod obsession overcame me and has been my life untill this day, with a few breaks here and there. In high school, I dreamed of one day working in a real hot rod shop. I would buy all the car magazines down at the gas station by my house and read them cover to cover. During the weekends I would pull all nighters putting in the next part on my Duster. New cam, new heads, cool shifter, stero system. It didnt matter I loved wrenching, my best friend loved it too. He also had his own hot rod, and when I wasn't wrenching on mine I was wrenching on his. Hot rods where my life.
What I didnt know, was is it was prepping me for a lifestyle on the sidewalk.
I never went to colledge after high school, instead, I took jobs that would teach me a skill.
I worked at a factory that built oil tanks. Started out on the bandsaw, had a guy show me how to weld on my lunch break, then spent every lunch break after that practicing until I could pass a welding test. I worked at a store putting on truck accessories, installed stereos and learned wiring. Spent 7 or so years rouphnecking on oil rigs just because they paid so well.
As the internet started comming around it was amazing. I could learn anything! I started learning everything I could. I also started working in some of the first "real" shops. If I didn't know how to do something when asked, I would say I did, go home that night and teach myself untill 2 or 3 in the morning and then go do it the next day. I started getting paid pretty good, not great, but pretty good. Every dollar comming in, was going out on tools. By this point I wanted my own shop. I was tired of working on other peoples cars, I wanted to build the cars that I wanted to build. So i needed a shop, and I also needed a lot of expensive equipment to go into this shop. I decided on buying the equipment one piece at a time untill I could find a shop.
Fast forward to today, I have a yard full off equipment, sitting under canvas "car canopies" and still no shop. I have a house, and a place to put one...but no shop. I started to realize, everthing I've been doing and learning up untill now, has been to teach me how to trade my time for money. I don't even love "doing what you do" anymore. I'm told all the time how lucky I am to be able to work on cool cars all day, when all I really feel is trapped.
Then I read the book, and it hit a switch.
I've spent my entire life teaching myself how to trade my time for money.
I have learned some other valuble things along the way also though. I love to learn how things work, and because of that I've developed a MASS of information on all subjects that just make things work. electronics, structural engineering, programming, arduino, cad software, hydraulics, phumatic, I could go on and on. When stuff breaks, I fix it. whether it be the tv or the air conditioner, I can fix it, because I know how it works. I've also enginerred a few products just for myself using a 3d printer I designed and built, arduino, and other forms of gagetry. At one point I even considered starting a prototyping company for people needing prototypes built.
So its time to clean out the mental toolbox. get rid of some of the tools I don't need, keep the ones that add value and put some of these new tools I've learned from the book to good use. It flipped a switch in my thought processes and I feel I truly do see the world around me in a different light.
Thank you.
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