Dream Job?

NOHOME said:

Project rescue, after  retirement.

No end of people who either don't know where to start or how to execute or complete the mechanical mess they get into. This can be cars, bikes or boats.

This allows me to project manage, fabricate and innovate to my hearts content while spending other people's $$$. 

The hard part with this is that the majority got into said mechanical mess in part because they already weren't willing (too low of an ROI) and able (not enough $$$) to pay somebody else to do it when they didn't have the time/talent to do it themselves, and are still too sentimentally attached to it to let it go. This is something I think about every time I pass the sad looking TR250 up the street from me, that hasn't moved in years. I've started having some unconventional ideas about how to address both rolling around in my head recently, but nothing 'workable' yet.

In reply to Driven5 :

Not selling anything. They seem to find me. Booked for the next year. Not something that would make you a living because the ratio of billable hours to calendar days is not good. 

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

I can't really complain either. I work for myself, I like my crew, I rarely if ever work 40 hours( usually 30) a week and my market is booming.

Means I can pick and choose which jobs to do and charge dearly. There are worse ways to live.

I still wanna be an astronaut though

NOHOME said:

From a fiduciary standpoint, my first task would always be to talk you out of doing something stupid. 

I retired on Monday...let ya know how it all works out.

Now what fun would that be? Besides... it's hard to take that seriously from someone who grafted a Volvo onto a Miata... 

Congrats on retirement!

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

Hang around, the next client is a Morris Minor that will be getting a mid engine Honda drivetrain.

NOHOME said:

In reply to Driven5 :

Not selling anything. They seem to find me. Booked for the next year. Not something that would make you a living because the ratio of billable hours to calendar days is not good. 

Slashing out labor/overhead by having the facility/tools and not needing the income, and getting down more to parts/materials, certainly opens up a lot of possibilities. It should also be be a great way to keep both mentally and physically active too. Well done.

preach (fs) said:

But, at 50 and eyeing retirement in 10 years, I'll stay where I'm at.

If you can retire at 61, I'd say your already in a dream job LOL.

Anything where I get to use other people's money and resources to do something I find at least a little interesting and fun. Guess I am there now in a way, which is interesting to think about 

I have my dream job for sure.  I get to make beer for a living, make my own schedule, and pretty much answer to nobody as long as the ship stays floating and pointed in the right general direction... 

I will say though, it's still a freaking job sometimes. haha. 

This meme always hit me right in the feels.  Just remember, dream job =/= dream life, haha. 

In reply to golfduke :

I made the decision young to not be an auto mechanic so my hobby would still be fun. I still ended up a mechanic though...

So...

Hands up all the GRM staff who thought minding the front desk at this insane asylum would be so satisfying.

A music curator for movies. Not the composer creating the background music, the guy selecting the music to be apart of the movie. I think that would be fun to do. 

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

preach (fs) said:

But, at 50 and eyeing retirement in 10 years, I'll stay where I'm at.

If you can retire at 61, I'd say your already in a dream job LOL.

I didn't think much about retirement till my late 40's... never expected to live long enough to worry about it. Things started coming together in my late 40's and early retirement looked posable, planing on doing the same thing afterwards, just less contracts.. Since then, my life spiraled down - now in my late 50's stuck in a full time job, the math says I can retire 2.5 years after I die. Now that socialism has its best foothold yet, prolly not then.

golfduke said

 

A friend owned his own bodyshop for several years, (very successful) Folks would tell him "you own your own business, you can make your own hours." He said "yep, long as I work 14 to 17 hours a day, I can work 'em whenever I want!"

Didn't see this thread when it was new. I don't dream of labor, can I be a landlord or a shareholder?

Ok, if I have to actually do something, I may settle for professional race car driver...

As far as a job, I have it pretty good so I'm not going to complain about it. It affords me enough money to have a few fun toys and take care of my family. I don't have a boss other than myself. I have a great group of people that work for me and we take care of each other. 

That said, I would love to do exactly what Shawn did. Step off the rat wheel, slow down, get the hell out of the city, and go back in time.

I get bored doing the same thing day in and day out. Running a farm means you get to do it all. Mechanic, carpenter, plumber, roofer, wood cutter, researcher, accountant, equipment operator, planter, hay bailer, and even ditch digger. Whatever comes along is your responsibility and it's never the same thing. That may well be my retirement plan because sitting around doing nothing would kill me. 

Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:

Stay at home dad.

 

I'm not talkin the "sit around, drink beer, because i can be in the garage all day" type of dad...

I want the full on, "time to get up, i made ya breakfast, here are your lunches, have a good day at work sweetie,  clean the entire place, do the yard work, near daily grocery shopping, take a little me time with the project car before i walk the kids home with one on my shoulders, help with homework, dont worry sweetie, i got dinner." Type.  I would rock the hell out of that and love every second of it.

 

Otherwise, working on the jets out here in Hungary is a close enough second.

Came here to say something similar, but you said it way better. This is me exactly. I would be quite fulfilled just being the caretaker of my homestead (suburban postage stamp). 

In reply to Toyman! :

The whole sell everything off and move to the country sounds so simple on paper (or the internet) but in reality would be near impossible for me. At least at this stage of my life. 

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

I could probably do it. I don't have a house payment anymore. The kids are mostly grown. My family already owns land I could do it on. I could sell off everything and finance it. But, I do have employees that depend on me and my wife would be less than interested in being a farmer's wife.

In 10-12 years though, all bets are off. I'm going to transfer/sell the company off to my eldest and it can be his problem.  

Comfortably retired. Oh wait ... 

preach (fs) said:

Javelin's dream job thread and the Cadillac CT4/5 thread up in GRM got me asking:

What is your dream job?

I have a pretty badass job currently but there are two jobs that I would call my dreams:

Astronaut is for sure one. I would love to go to space and have ever since I was a kid in the '70s.

The more realistic job though is from the Caddy thread. 

I would like to build high end engines and affix my name to each motor I built. I would nerd out on all of the dimensions and interferences/tolerances. Each would be perfect before I "signed" the build.

But, at 50 and eyeing retirement in 10 years, I'll stay where I'm at.

I totally do not understand your conclusion.

You ARE going to need to do something once you are retired and this is totally doable at some level.

The requirements for the job are to have an OCD level of attention to detail, and a few tools to measure and validate specifications. Engine building experience is also an asset. But you can gain that on the job especially if you stick to one kind of engine.

You wont need to do the machine work but rather work with a shop that will get to know you as a repeat customer with certain expectations.

I have a friend who holds peoples hands during an engine re-build so that they can experience the build and tell friends that they build the engine. They do the build in his shop after hours, pulling the engine apart, inspecting and making a plan. Buddy stick-handles the machine shop experience because, as a repeat client, he gets more attention than a walk in. ( Helps that he used to work at the machine shop)  He then hovers over the re-assembly process and provides a few pics of the people turning torque wrenches.  When done, his clients walk away with a lot more engine building knowledge than just tightening fasteners.

EDIT:

Just realized this was a Zombie thread that I had already posted in.

In response to "Past me's" post, I can say that things have gone well over the last 2 years. The hobby shop has gotten me past a pandemic and a few other post retirement issues that have kept me from roaming afar. 

There ARE people out there that can well afford to have their projects executed by other people and grateful for it. If the skills  and tools are resident, then project management becomes the real value proposition.  

I still start every project by trying to talk the person out of even starting. 

Two thoughts for me. 
 

Either a farm. 
 

or

i like making pizza. I like making people happy with my pizza. That's about it. 

In reply to NOHOME :

The plan is what Toyman! posted this year. I plan on farming my own food for me and the wife, this includes animals. In addition to that I will be restoring my cars and enjoying them in the turns of the Smokey Mtns. I will also likely hang a welder/fabricator shingle up.

When I was younger there were jobs that I thought would be dream jobs. I'm glad I never ended up in any of those fields. 

As I've told our kids - no one truly gets paid for doing what they love. They get paid for the parts of job that suck

My job now & the company I work for aren't bad, but I've realized that the interests & activities I enjoy would quickly become miserable if paying my bills depended on it. At this point I'm hoping I can make it to retirement, and the older I get the more willing I am to "retire" even if it means a much lower standard of living. 
. 

pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) said:

preach (fs) said:

But, at 50 and eyeing retirement in 10 years, I'll stay where I'm at.

If you can retire at 61, I'd say your already in a dream job LOL.

It depends on what you have to do to get there. I could retire at 55, it's looking less likely all the time because it's a miserable place to be with little chance it will improve in the 8 years I have left here.