As some of you know, I had grown up in the family earth moving business since I was born. Figuring that I would run with my dad until he retires then take it over, thats all I had planned on doing my entire life. In 2004 that all changed, when my grandpa finally retired(at 83) and my dad took over as the head of the county highway dept. To make sure he had made the right choice we never closed down, I took over the day to day operations and my uncle was still with me full time as well. For 3 years we con't to do projects, big and small, but slowly decline on the amount of work. I knew after the first year that no matter if my dad liked his new job or not that my mother would never let him quit it, as the insurance and benifts were better than they had ever had in their life. The choice was made, out of my hands, to sell the equipment, my uncle Harv would retire(he had 50 years in working for my grandpa), and I would have to find somthing to do for work. I was offered a bunch of jobs for different guys doing all manners of work, none paying the best and no or lil insurance. Finally, I got a call from the company that had bought most of our equipment(they would have hired me to, cept the pay wasn't there) and he told me of a job with a company out of Iowa that had bought some companies in Wisconsin. He even gave THEM my number and THEY got a hold of me. For the first while it was hard to figure out why he had sent me to the competitor but I had known him for years, and figured he wanted to see me suceed, even if it wasn't working for him. About 6 months after starting at my new job, doing all the earthmoving that was needed at quarries, etc, they bought out the company that we had sold our equipment too. Now, I'm based out of my hometown, have a good job, good benifits and good pay. There are somedays when I still long to go back to the family biz days, but looking at the big picture, as my dad had told me to do. I know I am much better off(cept this being layed off all winter, for the first few years til i build up some senioratity, is for the birds). Trbo
It's tough letting go, my dad and I did the same thing in '06. We started an excavation division to complement the landscaping side of things we had been doing for 4 years. After it was all said and done, when I left for college my dad couldn't be two places at once and decided that he couldn't run the excavation division without me. Now I'm going union, probably a better route for me to take. There are days when I sit down and think of how well we'd be doing right now if we were still doing it, but I just look at what I'll learn in the union and take that with me back home when I start my own show.
Yes it is tough, after seeing what grandpa had started and built and I know that was a lot of the reason he wouldn't retire, he didn't want to stop doing what he had always known. But times are changing, and I know that where I am at, although not always the greatest, will be the best thing I have ever done to keep myself ahead in life. Trbo
Letting go is probably the worst. When I grew up my grandfather had a great concrete business going, but when he turned 70 in 1997 my grandmother forced him to start retiring. Sadly he sold the equipment before I was old enough to be of any help to him (12yrs old). When I graduated high school I thought about going at it by myself but I got into a Heavy Equipment College in northern ontario. I came back home with some extra knowledge and went looking for a job. I ended up getting a job with my grandfathers competition and that guy (stew) only hired me because he got his first job with my grandpa. I spent a year there and he told me to get lost because he saw me settling into a groove where I would go nowhere in life. I ended up moving to a larger city and got an awesome job with another excavating company and spent 2 1/2yrs there. Eventually I moved out here to Edmonton and got an amazing job with a huge company and actually have a career now. I got talking with the old man and found out that my take home pay now is more than he made with his own company. I never wanted to work for someone else, thought I had to work for myself. I never wanted to be a number. Now I have realized that workin for someone else isn't so bad. Although I do still plan to buy a backhoe when I move back home to Ontario some day.
People that have'nt done it often think owning a business is instant riches, If you can get past all the red tape of being an employer, buy the equipment, find the work, rent or buy a shop, get the insurance, pay the income and self employment tax and workmans comp, turn a profit, pay off whatever loans you have, make the payroll, keep the books, raise a family, try to stash some retirement, and be fortunate enough not to get in any law suits then you succeded. Or you can get a good job, which makes more sense?
The job. You quit every night and can go fishing. Forget the work till the next day. With your own business you never get to rest. 2:am thinking about what to d next. It has taken me over 25 years to get ware I am today. Would I do it again? ??
I understand everything you guys are saying , But every person that you read about that is successful isn't working for somebody! Is working for somebody smart,(maybe) It's safe that's for sure! It depends on how you measure your life? My father 75 worked for the same co for 40 yrs maybe misses a week in all that time & now regrets it he says that co made a lot of $$ off of the sweat he gave them.
That's there your wrong success isn't measured in $$$.
Ditto
My mothers father and brother and dad moved to wisconsin shortly after the second world war. They were in mininig and drilling more so, came up as a favor to the Eagle Pitcher company to drill test holes for the lead mines. For 40 years they worked there tail off and never had much money, but you ask my uncle Bill if he regrets it, not for a minute. There were somedays they would want to kill each other, but the lifetime of memories working side by side outweigh everything. My dads dad started the earth moving business with just a hand fed crusher and soon after added a lil crawler that they had to build the blade for. My dad recalls many many years of working 6 full(15 to 18 hours) days and spending sunday after church out doing service work. As my uncle Harv put it, we made a living, enough to pay the bills and keep food on the table but that was bout it. We never did bad in business, did as much as we could with what we had, did all major repairs on our own, and did many lil side jobs as well(plowing snow for the townships, thawing water lines in the winter, etc). A person looks at what it takes just to do what you love, RUNNING THE MACHINE, and being on your own you have to pay bills, collect pay, insurance, etc, etc, etc. The days that everything is going good I wish I were back moving dirt like we used to, but when my machine breaks down, or somthing is not right, its not out of my pocket book. And in todays world with insurance and permits the way it is, its hard to make ends meet. Then you have to throw in all the "cowboys" that think they can be earth movers and do work much cheaper then you. They might not be there long, but theres always another to take their place. I won't say a guy can't make a good living at doing it on his own, but even though I balk at it, being with a good company, with good pay and insurance is a good place to be. I know dad would much rather be on his ol 15C pushing dirt again, if that was all he had to do, even more so then sitting in meetings and "babysitting" 40 county workers(I use workers loosely). But when bennifts are over 80% of what they are making, you can't beat it. to quote Dozerboy, "That's there your wrong success isn't measured in $$$." I have already had many people from within the company I work for comment on the type of work I do and just in a few short months they are very happy with how I have adjusted and have fit into the company. Shortly after I started, I was going through some tough times(both dealing with new job and other stuff), the owner of the company showed up to where I was on a friday afternoon. We talked for about 30 mins and the best thing he said to me, above all else was, " I need you, working for us, doing what you do best, and thats running equipment." To hear that, after having only been there a few months ment the world to me and I will never forget that and will not let him down. Trbo Trbo
I got my BSCE in 1972 and went to work for the county highway authority as an engineer. Loved the construction side and thought about starting my own company - demo would have been my choice . I looked at the successful local companies. I saw good people that worked 12-14 hours a day 6 days a week and built up real successful companies. Then the kids joined dad and or uncles. They grew up living the good life. They took over the companies and pretty much ran them into the ground. Most of them survived but have had some tough times. I decided to stay with the county (36 years in June). Did I get rich? Nope, but the pay is decent and benefits are decent (There are other muni's that pay more and have better beni's) but I LIKE what I do. I've had 5 different jobs and 2 different career paths and look forward to going to work every day (almost every day ). Financially, I can retire but I like what I do so much I can't think of another job I'd like to do. (I get enough vacation a year to enjoy the 1989 23 foot Searay I bought last year and the 1966 15 ton P&H truck crane I just bought ). My advice, you need to enjoy what you do so you can look forward to going to work every day. I've been telling my daughter that for years and she got her BSCE in 2005. She works for a consulting engineering firm in town and now I'm her client on a 14 mile non-motorized pathway project we are managing in a local freeway right of way.
Pete i hear you, with all the above,then you throw in the big "D" and i don't mean Dallas as the song goes,then you really have to dig down real deep to keep things going. Especially when she runs off with the hired man???? Emotional and financially. Long story and late night,but i still love what i do,even at my age.Thats why he say we will have trials and tribulations.It's what makes us stronger in our lifes and careers the way i see it. The worst thing of being self employed for me, is budgeting in the health insurance.Hard to bet good health,thats one thing that you can't put a $$$$$$$ sign on for sure i can tell you!!!!!:usa
I am a small business owner...tomorrow is saturday. For reasons various I have about 500 cubic metres of crap in the middle of a site I am building walls on. The earthworks were not part of my intial contract. I can't get trucks Monday or Tuesday...only Saturday. Today (Friday) was screwed up already......so I get to run the Loader all day Saturday so I can keep working on Monday...I can't afford to be 3 days behind. Thats my lot.. I would pay someone $400 to run the loader if I could find someone at short notice...just so I could spend the day at the beach with my kids........the $$$$ aint everything.
It's been alot of fun , particularly the last 5 years have been hot. work cooled off now kinda leaves me scratching my head but I've been through ups and downs before. I've always done it the hard way, why change now? I here ya on the big D been there in 93' after 19 years. never trusted a woman after that. DP
$$$ isn't everything But it sure helps (lets not kind yourself) That same guy that told you good work . When work slows or his friends son needs a job & tells he doesn't need you any more, what then? Bennis are great & you can't beat them but you can't pay bills with them! I owe a bus for 25 yrs & its hard but my dreams don't include work 10 hrs for somebody else. I'll fight for my dream!
Its interesting seeing everyones take on things. For me, and our family as a whole, we could have made it work, as we have done for over 60 years. But alot of closing had to do with my grandpa not wanting to let go, but not allowing us to expand as well. I know that in the future, it could happen, where for what ever reason I or anyone may be let go, thats a risk you run. But one thing I have been told, when push comes to shove, the good business man will stick with the guys that can do it all, not the guy hired for one purpose. I credit all of the OO's out there, as I know what its like and god willing if it will ever be fit for me to do again I will go for it. But for now, and for more than money or benni's, I'm happy doing what I'm doing and enjoy the people I work with. So of course that means a ton right there. Trbo
I would really like to play some mario kart but dozer would be fun too