Yesterday, in a fit of annoyance, I removed all my replies to this thead mostly to avoid agruing (which I am genetically predetermined to do!) but apparently I can't help myself, so here I am typing. Maybe this will come out "softer" than what I removed.
First, Rick, not all 20-somethings flip burgers or work at a car wash for a living. As we've discussed before on other threads, I started my "career" off as an electrical contractor. I started at about 20, with a rusty $50 Ford Econoline and a small bag of tools. After six months of barely scraping by, I bid on a huge commercial construction project that was open for bid, as listed in the local newspaper. Went to all the bidders meetings, prepared all the paperwork, priced everything out, and submitted my bid, somewhere in the $8mil range. Scary thing is I won the bid, I was the lowest bidder.
So I took my winning bid notification, went to two local banks, and one floated me a business loan which enabled me to acquire the materials, trained labor, a few additional trucks (3 or 4, I forget), and various machines that would be necessary for the job. Gas-powered cable pullers, core drillers, trench cutters. Then I did the job over 8 months. I finished on time, with minimal re-works, and my contracting business was born, and I paid off the loan. By the end of the following year (I was 22ish), I had 30 trucks, and 55-60 employees, including a small three person accounting department.
I had at that time a lot of strengths that kep it all together, which is why it grew the way it did, but I had a lot of weaknesses which ultimately tanked me, and while I ended up selling out to a competitor. While the money was amazing looking back at it, the learning experience was even more important, I've carried that knowledge with me throughout my wife, whether I was owning a pro studio or three, owning my racing team, owning a dot-com (and getting out before that market evaporated) or working in corporate America, which I've also done.
There are many paths we all can take in our lives relating to money, power, and family, and each of us prioritize these things differently. I, at a young age, was significantly more motivated towards money and power, at the expense of healthy, serious relationships and starting a family. My wife was the same way actually, and we married 2 years ago, and just now having our first child this coming feb. I'm 37 and she's 45. We're both unemployed, and its not necessary for either of us to work until about 2011 (assuming I stay out of Home Depot and Sam Ash
). We live on dividends. I do realize the "Average American" lives differently, but uiltimately that comes down to choices in life. We all choose our own paths, influenced by upbringing, market, skillsets, religion, politics, and what we perceive as expected behavior, among other things. This is the land of opportunity, even in this nasty bull market. A lot of Americans get themselves into a financial pickle by spending more than they have. While a lot of us have mortgages and other financial responsibilities, many of us overspend and overbuy under the guise of "survival".
Case in point, I have a friend who is in outside sales, and makes an okay living based on standards in NJ. He doesn't live in the worst neighborhood, but he doesn't own a $5mil estate either. His "sales car" got up there in age, so he went out and leased himself an E-Class to impress clients. Why? I personally don't think a potential client would be so impressed with a ride in a Benz that they'd rush to the desk to sign a purchase order. What's wrong with a $25K Ford Explorer instead of a $65K benz? He now has monthly payments to deal with, which if he loses his job will tank him financially. Ahh, the American Way.
Anyway, while there is nothing wrong with working for a large, corporate entity your entire life building your achievements is smaller, spaced out steps as my father had done for the 47 years he spent at a fortune 100 financial institution (went from teller, to SVP in those 47 years!), not all of us choose that path. Some of us take wild chances based on opportunities we find, walk into, or make for ourselves. Some of my successes in my life can be attributed to my behavior, attitude etc, and some of it has to be attributed to pure luck. It's all about taking chances, and being willing to take risks. Sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail. And "fail" is not necessarily the worst thing in the world either, as that is an opportunity to reflect and learn from one's mistakes, and sharpen the tools and skills in our brains.
As far as pro/home studios and this forum, well, the forum is really slanted towards home studio construction, but at the same time learning from the pro's is not a bad thing. There are a lot of crossovers between "home" and "pro" in both construction and certainly technique, so I don't really see anything but good associated with pro-folks with pro-facilities being here and participating. Maybe we come from different places and have a different view on all this Rick, but I view this as a good thing overall. A year ago I was posting "How to run a studio as a business" type posts, and if I recall, you were very supportive of such posts. I stopped, BTW, because I was getting the impression no one was interested, as very few were engaged in the thread which suprised me.
Everyone here brings something to the table, and as a collective we can learn from one other regardless of where we are from, what we do, and our life experiences. For example, my knowledge of two-leaf construction and such things is about as sparce as it gets, I grasp the bare minimum, if that. But obviously I bring other things to the table.
And on-topic in regards to Danny's space, I'll freely admit I'm jealous of his acquisition as it reminds me of what I had, and lost, three times now. But that is my issue, now isn't it, not his. I say more power to him, and congratulations!
So... I guess I can't participate in this forum anymore, as this past Monday I signed my first "Midimonkey" contract to do a soundtrack for a small independent film as well as master the film's audio.
Cheers.