Hey Creek, i'm Alex! I've been lurking for about a month now and finally figured it was time to become an active member of this forum . I currently work in a very comfortable retail job paying me incredibly for a useless part time gig (33 hours a week). The issue?
1. I hate my job. I deal with some of the more ignorant people you would ever imagine. Honestly, some would say "scum" is a good word to use. Although i've developed thick skin because of it, and the ability to strike conversations on the fly since I deal with over 300-400+ people a day (trying to stay positive).
2. Things are getting comfy. I'm in the second half of my 20s and I could feel myself starting to settle. I've been here for 7 years, 4 weeks of paid Vacation, sick days, pension, blah blah bla. At the end of the day I can max out at a pretty 55K salary full time doing a very "easy" job. That might make some people happy, I'm not one of those people. I'm not mentally being stimulated, and I haven't learned anything new from my job in about 5 years.
3. It's retail! That means working every weekend. Late nights. Christmas Eve. Punching in and out. Crazy customers all day. Timed breaks like a hawk. Anyone in retail knows what I'm talking about. I've had enough.
So The plan of action?
My family has a successfully running custom cabinetry company. I never really cared for kitchens or anything like that to be honest, and I still dont. I'm a musician and business person at heart with a love and appreciation for all art. I have a Bcom in Economics. I sell things online via Amazon, social media, and ecommerce stores and deal in that realm of things. A new opportunity opened up within our family business. Essentially, I can pick any machine I like (<$50,000 or so). The catch? My family expect 100% commitment. That means quitting my job, and going full gungho on this. My job is to learn everything I can and be able to do anything.
With that being said, there are already a few projects that would get me working right off the bat from other current endeavours i'm testing. Whether these become profitable is another story.
The laser brands it fell down to (to no surprise apparently) was Epilong and Trotec. Me and my family are having our 3rd meeting with our Trotec rep to perhaps settle a deal for a Speedy 400 this upcoming week. The pass through feature is a big deal in our niche which is why it's looking a bit better then the Epilog line. (Would love to hear some other suggestions or feedback if anyone has any!)
If everything works out, there will another post in a few weeks with some pictures of our barebone (empty unit) set up.
Well, that pretty much sums up my life at the moment. Feeling so grateful I stumbled across this community! You guys really helped me narrow down my decisions! Thank you all, looking forward to making some friends
Cheers,