Let's talk business ...

by dubstepped 33 Replies latest jw friends

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  dubstepped

  @nonjwspouse - Thanks for the kind words. I actually have two courses that are close to done that I get distracted from finishing. One teaches how we started and run our cleaning business. The other is how to start a mobile auto detailing service. I am a person that often gets to a certain point and then I lose interest. It's the ADHD in me. I've got them 99% finished, but then to sell them I need to develop websites and graphics and lead magnets and sales pitches and marketing and.........and.........and. So the course itself may be near finished, but there's so much after that to figure out and it all hits me and overwhelms me at times. Again, it's hard to maintain that focus.

  I've actually been looking into some life coaching courses. I love what I get to do with my podcast "shunned" and have been able to impact lives with it. I'd love to be able to do more of that without having to go to a minimum of 5 years of full time college to become a social worker or something. I think I have a lot to offer to people. I've left a cult, gotten emotionally healthy, lost weight, paid off $55,000 in debt in just 18 months while doing the types of work that we do, etc. I'm sure I could help others to do similar things as a coach of some sort. It's just an idea for now, but I'm looking into it.
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  jwundubbed

  @jwundubbed, I grew up poor too. I'm sorry you feel so hopeless aside from the pursuit of education and possibilities that it holds, but I'm glad that you do have that thing to look forward to in the future.

  Update: 2023 was an awesome year for me. My student loans were forgiven after 20 years of paying on them. I am no longer in debt over $5000. (The student loans were almost $100,000 because I could only pay minimum payments and the banks kept buying the loans and upping the interest rates) I never did go back for higher education... just certificates here and there that help me move forward.
  

  I was hired at a medical manufacturing company in Quality Assurance and had permanent work and health insurance for a little over a year. It was a career field I had wanted to get into for a long time! My world view was content and so different from everything that I had experience previously that I was actually quite happy.

  This year, 2024, I was laid off from that job. I don't even care. They gave a good severance package and so I took a vacation since I haven't had one in my adult life. After the vacation I got a new job, as a manager. It's a low-level manager position and doesn't pay well, but well enough to pay the bills and allow me to buy a car. I can work on certificates and education to get back into QA because I really loved that job in that career field. The current manager job will only give me more experience towards future goals.

  What 2023 did for me was to give me a huge confidence boost. The work I did was challenging in the best way. I learned that I am very competent in a lot of areas. If I can get enough work, I might even be able to buy a house. That was never an option before now.

  My outlook absolutely changed by having a good experience. And it is weird, but it turns out that you can make choices that have a good payout twenty years later. It turns out that I'm not good at making choices that give me instant gratification but that I am really good at making long term investment choices.

  2024 isn't looking as good as 2023 but it i so much better than every year that came before. I am much more positive about my future. Now I only dream of DOOM! when I think it's funny... I have a dark sense of humor. Sometimes it hits me and I realize how profound it is to have grown up with a belief that doom is right around the corner and now to disbelieve that to the extent that I am making plans for my future... to live, to settle down and take root, to be a fully contributing member of a community in the worldly world. Life is good!
  
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  DesirousOfChange

  Very interesting reading.

  It's very encouraging that so many of you have done so well in life and are having a rewarding career.

  The greatest revenge is living a happy & successful life!
  
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  Jazzbo

  I was a real bright kid and like many I had the opportunity to go to several pretty prestigious Universities and pursue a STEM degree, which I didn't take. I did the pioneer thing with part time work for a while but I got married and as a result, sat down one night and said, "This is just not working."

  So, I got a job with a real company, a large company, that had a tendency to let you do whatever you were able to do and bootstrapped my way up to some very responsible positions whose job requirements specified at least a Masters Degree and preferably a PhD, but the company was good about waving their magic wand and declaring that I had the equivalent. Several patents and quite a few technical papers helped. I had guys with Doctorates working for me. I was a good conservative boy, saved my money and invested, lived a disciplined life and retired in a very comfortable financial position. I didn't make the 1% but I did make the 5%. Some skills I got from the Organization were quite useful.

  I'd say, I did it, but it was a whole lot harder than it should have been and I could feel the ice crackling under me every step of the way. I will also say I could have made less money and engaged in more intellectual pursuits and probably have been happier. But, all in all, I can't complain. I have had the opportunity to see and do things that the majority of people do not.