G
GuestUser202
Guest
So...a little about me, since I hope to be quite active on here. I am 40 yrs old this year, divorced with 2 kids. My daughter is living with her mom full time some 500 miles away, while my son is with me full time (sans maybe the summers). I never worked at Subway (although I did McDonland's for 2 weeks), and I never really considered myself a sidewalker...perhaps a REALLY slow slowlaner with jobs such gas station attendant, pizza restaurant assistant manager (glorified shift leader), pizza delivery driver, auto mechanic, and a 7+ year career in IT (help desk, desktop support). I didn't get my 1st slowlane job until the ripe old age of 35...you know, the 9-5, 5 days a week, save 10%, 401k. I thought I had it made. I felt secure because I now had BENEFITS!! Sick time, vacation time, 401k, employee stock purchase option...but after 5 yrs of this, I realized I will never get what I want. I will never have the life I want or give my kids the life I want. Something HAS to change.
Ever since taking auto mechanics in high school, I think I've wanted my own business fixing cars...ideally, either customizing (Chip Foose style), or full blown 100% restoration of cars. Unfortunately, I don't have such skills and the market place for this type of work is VERY slim. So I started working in garages and dealers as a mechanic. Although I enjoyed the work, I knew I did not want to that for a living. My mindset was this: I'll work in this industry long enough to acquire tools and enough knowledge to fix my own cars...so I can save money by not paying someone else to fix them. Plus I just couldn't seem to make a decent living off of this.
5 years of a pro mechanic and topping out at a whopping $28k/yr, I ditched the mechanic role, keeping the tools and knowledge and fixing my own cars while I worked mostly delivering pizza. Sadly, with tips and mileage, I was making more than I was as a mechanic...still not enough though (obviously). I spent 4+ years delivering pizza at a company I HATED...DREDDED going to work to almost every day. Somewhere around 2 1/2-3 years into delivering pizza, I decided to go back to college for Information Technology (IT). I applied to ITT Technical Institute, got accepted, enjoyed the work, did VERY well, and graduated with highest honors (3.98/4.00 gpa). AND I had MOST of it covered by grants.
So this started my career in IT, bouncing from job to job to job as entry level jobs were almost always contact work. My last contract position was with IBM (don't get too excited, it's NOT all that), lasting a quick 5 months. THEN it happened...it FINNALLY happened! A direct hire job with almost twice the pay, benefits. I had SICK TIME!! Vacation time!! I MADE IT!!!
At the time of this writing, I am still employed at that very same company. But, all the while, I've been dabbling in fix n flip cars, even when I was delivering pizza. I mean why not? I have the tools and I have the knowledge, might as well make some extra money, right? So I started dabbling more around 2010, making money, losing money.
Divorce and selling the house and finding a place to live and aftermath soon hit, so all the fix n flip kinda took a back seat. I started again in 2014, making good profits off of what I was able to sell/trade, but for whatever reason, I thought continuing on with IT was a safe bet. I started studying for my CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate), but I wasn't passionate about it...not passionate about computers or IT at all. One day, I started to watch a video n Youtube for the CCNA, but I got side tracked by the ad that t plays at the beginning of Youtube videos. It was a message from Tai Lopez, a proclaimed self made millionaire. The next day, I spent half the day at work watching his video, and I ALMOST fell for his $67 quick tips for getting rich scheme...until I read it's $67/mo until I cancel. F THAT!! But what I got out of his video was that it seems most self made millionaires read. They read about how others got rich. So I thought, "Well shoot, I can!" And so somehow, I think a google search of some sort, I landed here, downloaded the free sample of The Millioniare Fastlane, and INSTANLY got addicted! It's now feeding my desire to fix and flip for a living!
Ever since taking auto mechanics in high school, I think I've wanted my own business fixing cars...ideally, either customizing (Chip Foose style), or full blown 100% restoration of cars. Unfortunately, I don't have such skills and the market place for this type of work is VERY slim. So I started working in garages and dealers as a mechanic. Although I enjoyed the work, I knew I did not want to that for a living. My mindset was this: I'll work in this industry long enough to acquire tools and enough knowledge to fix my own cars...so I can save money by not paying someone else to fix them. Plus I just couldn't seem to make a decent living off of this.
5 years of a pro mechanic and topping out at a whopping $28k/yr, I ditched the mechanic role, keeping the tools and knowledge and fixing my own cars while I worked mostly delivering pizza. Sadly, with tips and mileage, I was making more than I was as a mechanic...still not enough though (obviously). I spent 4+ years delivering pizza at a company I HATED...DREDDED going to work to almost every day. Somewhere around 2 1/2-3 years into delivering pizza, I decided to go back to college for Information Technology (IT). I applied to ITT Technical Institute, got accepted, enjoyed the work, did VERY well, and graduated with highest honors (3.98/4.00 gpa). AND I had MOST of it covered by grants.
So this started my career in IT, bouncing from job to job to job as entry level jobs were almost always contact work. My last contract position was with IBM (don't get too excited, it's NOT all that), lasting a quick 5 months. THEN it happened...it FINNALLY happened! A direct hire job with almost twice the pay, benefits. I had SICK TIME!! Vacation time!! I MADE IT!!!
At the time of this writing, I am still employed at that very same company. But, all the while, I've been dabbling in fix n flip cars, even when I was delivering pizza. I mean why not? I have the tools and I have the knowledge, might as well make some extra money, right? So I started dabbling more around 2010, making money, losing money.
Divorce and selling the house and finding a place to live and aftermath soon hit, so all the fix n flip kinda took a back seat. I started again in 2014, making good profits off of what I was able to sell/trade, but for whatever reason, I thought continuing on with IT was a safe bet. I started studying for my CCNA (Cisco Certified Network Associate), but I wasn't passionate about it...not passionate about computers or IT at all. One day, I started to watch a video n Youtube for the CCNA, but I got side tracked by the ad that t plays at the beginning of Youtube videos. It was a message from Tai Lopez, a proclaimed self made millionaire. The next day, I spent half the day at work watching his video, and I ALMOST fell for his $67 quick tips for getting rich scheme...until I read it's $67/mo until I cancel. F THAT!! But what I got out of his video was that it seems most self made millionaires read. They read about how others got rich. So I thought, "Well shoot, I can!" And so somehow, I think a google search of some sort, I landed here, downloaded the free sample of The Millioniare Fastlane, and INSTANLY got addicted! It's now feeding my desire to fix and flip for a living!
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