How do your earn your living?

Well, I was a veterinarian, but as of yesterday's election, I am just going to sit back on my rear and let the good old government take care of me. Thanks to all of you who pay taxes, I am now going to be living the American dream......a free ride!
 
Started out in factory maintainence and R&D, moved "up" to machinist at a different shop. Tried some steel rule die making and finally ended up in an in house tool and die shop for the past 30 years. We build the dies and molds and our plants run the parts. I kind of have the run of the place, I build dies, do die repair welding and some fabrication welding, some maintainence repairs, jig and fixture making, some model work, you know, an "anything for a buck" sorta guy . Lots of tools and toys to play with. About 90% of our business is auto related. Needless to say the work load is not the best right now. Oh wait, now I can get the grubbermint to pay my mortgage and I can quit my job and live the good life too.

George
 
PG,
You got that right partner. When you get to do what you love ........and........love what you do...it's pretty hard to beat.
The Lord has blessed me and I've always figured that "to whom much is given, much is expected" and I've had so many do so much for me....it's my job to pass it on.
Later partner,
Lou


Lou,

I agree...what diversity. I feel very lucky. Duck hunters are definitely a special breed!

PG
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Happy Bday to me today im 45 and just got back from 9 days of deercamp ,ive been a Power Engineer for about 25 years ,which means i run buildings heating and cooling plants[boiler&chillers]Retirement is so close i can taste it..its shift work and i love it the shift work not the job so much as i have a lot of time off work a week have a week off work about 15 days of the month the rest is for hunting and the most important thing of all is watching my 6 year old Makayla grow up and of course taking miss daisy hunting ,,
 
I'll jump into this one! I spent some time in Uncle Sam's canoe club welding bit of metal together and decided to use some of that GI Bill money to go to college and chase women. I left college with a BS in Education and taught 6-12 technology education for five years. Went back to school and picked up a graduate degree in Ed and became the "computer guy" for a rural district of about 2000 kids. Now I am self employed and develop training for companies and organizations. I enjoy the freedom of picking my own schedule and working on projects that I am truly interested in.

Tom
 
Well, if you are reading this from your office, look up. See that square thing that your air conditioning comes out of? I sell those, and some other air conditioning related products.

Jim
 
I fix boats. (Mostly!) Although I'll pretty much do whatever to keep the cash flowing. I started out in high school as a snowmobile mechanic, panicked when Nixon started the first energy crisis and joined the Navy Seabees. I went back to Minnesota after the service but went into construction when the post secondary thing didn't work. (Thirty years later Minnesota admitted the way they taught math was not working. Why didn't they ask me!) I married a Canadian girl in the 70's and moved to Canada in the mid 80's when things went sour in our town for work. We finally stopped heading west when we hit the ocean and bought a small Mom and Pop shipyard. My wife runs the store and I work the yard. Be careful what you wish for!

Been here 22 years.

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We cut a lot of wood when we first got here. Rough sawn red cedar and Doug fir for board walks, siding, etc. All the boat lumber went into the shed for our use. When the cradle was empty I would saw, and then burn the slabs at night. Man I wish I had that energy again. Sold the sawmill quite a few years ago when we got to busy working on boats and the wood got harder to get. Beach combing is not what it used to be.

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Worked on some interesting craft over time.

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An old gal wanted to put her floating store in her yard so she wanted us to clean it up and paint the steel bottom before she moved it through town. Barnacles and mussels humming away would have put her neighbors on the war path. That's probably the strangest thing I've hauled out on the railway.


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Hands down in the fun category was repairing this Dugout canoe when they got a bit aggressive towing it and broke the thing (Right where the Y is in Tyee) The Band still races it but I think they now have a fiberglass one they use also.


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This is pretty much the way things are done now. We put aluminum in places we would have used wood 15 years ago. I still work wood and enjoy it but there is lots of glass and aluminum out there now.

The new breed of commercial fisherman is the sport fishing charters so between them and my other commercial customers the summers seem to go pretty fast.

Eric

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Great topic to get everyone involved. I've been an independent medical device (orthopaedic) sales contractor in Missouri since 1995. Replacement hips and knees are the biggest part of my business with implants for fixing broken bones being the next biggest. I've called Joplin, MO home since 1997. My website is www.4statesjointpain.com.
 
I hav been in law enforcement for 29 years, the last 21 years homicide/cold case. I can retire this June, but have to see what the future holds with the economy. The last 8 years I own and run a , deer outfit/guide service in Georgia. The hunting is good,I have 3000 acres and only hunt ten people per year, that includes all the seasons bow/black powder/rifle. Just put in a five acre pond and it filled up just last week. Counted 125 wood ducks come in last night. This is my pride and joy!
Bought a sneak boat, motor and trailer, Finished painting the boat yesterday.(pics to follow). Preparing for retirement. John
 
Since 1980, I've been a commercial real estate broker. After starting with a big outfit, I was in business for myself for about 14 years. Since 2001, I've been working for Cushman & Wakefield. Most recently I've been working in Delaware, the Eastern Shore of Maryland and parts of PA. I am on a small team and one of our most interesting assignments is the sale of land in Sussex County, DE.

We are in talks with conservation groups to protect some interesting sites.
 
Have nearly 10 years in with the Wisconsin DNR as an engineer. I inspect construction of Wastewater and Drinking water projects that are funded through a loan program. I am based out of Green Bay and work in the entire Northeast Region.

Thank fully from what I have heard, there will be some money coming from the feds Wall Street buy out, for our loan program to encourage municipal construction. I have already seen the effects of the economy on the construction business this year and I am sure next year will not be any better.

Hope you all hang in there, and wish everyone my best.

Bob
 
I am a Field Supervisor with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and have worked for the Department for 20 years.
We are mandated with the conservation and protection of salt water and fresh water fish species and their habitat.
Our main task is to police the commercial and recreational fisheries to ensure that the regulations are being followed.
To help get the job done I routinely use a wide range of methods. Some of the vehicle/vessels used are pictured below.


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Here was a first last week, a Leatherback Turtle that had came ashore was revived and released to the water only to turn up dead several days later...we took the turtle to the Vet college in Prince Edward Island for them to do a disection to try and determine what had killed it. This weighed 258 kgs!!
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It is a great "outside" job with no two days ever the same.

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I've worked for the same company (3M) for almost 25 years. I started right out of graduate school (Chemist) and landed a job inventing/developing recon film for the Harris Corporation so I have visited the company HQ'ers in Melbourne Florida where Hitch works. From there I went to the autobody business within 3M and developed/invented a whole line of paint refinishing products and retail car care products. After this, I worked in the Marine business and invented/developed many of the same type of products for the marine business, both OEM and retail. Some of the products I know have been used by many on this site to build the boats that are enjoyed today. I get quite a bit of satisfaction walking into most retail outlets and seeing products on the shelf that I developed.

From the chemist/research end of things I went into business development where I have become the link between the customers and the various laboratories within the company. I now find myself in the Mining business helping mining customers worldwide solve their pain points. I work in the mines and hear/discover problems in the way things are done, present the opportunity to the proper laboratory within the company and then work that solution until it can be brought back to our customer for trialing. My current programs are specifically in the area of repairing mining Tires while still on the vehicle, contolling dust on coal trains and any other spots where dust is a problems for mining enterprises, and on a couple of other projects to early to talk about. I find it interesting that there are power plant people on this site as I have been working with some of these people to ensure that our dust control solution does not interfer with the operations inside a coal fired power plant. Mining is a long ways from the boat and car businesses.

I am hoping to retire here but with the way things are going within the company, I could be out of a job at anytime.

Mark W
 
Hi Rutgers,

I run a family plumbing business. We're located in Oshawa, Ontario...I feel your pain with the 'handy-man' as we're a big G.M. town and, unfortunately, there have been a lot of lay offs recently. It's really a shame for those folks directly affected and I do feel for those who have or will lose their job.

If they (handyman) want to put in the time to learn a trade then run it professionally then bring it on...I've got no problem competing with those that have the same or similar overhead and are operating above board (paying taxes, remittances, permits etc.).

Anyhoooo, have you approached any local plumbers who do bathroom renovations to see if they're looking for the quality work you do? BNI is a networking group that has really worked well for our business. Also, your local chamber of commerce might be a good place to network - word of mouth is the best way I know of to keep busy. Don't know if you have a web site or not...if not then get one! it'll help you to keep busy too.

Regards and Good Luck,

Jeff
 
Damn, no wonder you can post a question about anything here and get a correct answer. What a diverse conglomeration of talent.
 
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