Re: Life Sucks, Then You Move On

[JoeRaisin <joeraisin2001@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jim wrote:
> On Dec 5, 7:37�am, JoeRaisin <joeraisin2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> JoeRaisin wrote:
>>> Effenpig1 wrote:
>>>> On Dec 4, 9:22 pm, Jim <alarmi...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>> On Dec 4, 2:10 pm, JoeRaisin <joeraisin2...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>>> Oh yeah... My NICET Certification is good to 2012 but how do I go about
>>>>>> getting and documenting recertification requirements? That used to be
>>>>>> done by my supervisor and at the time I wasn't interested in the
>>>>>> process
>>>>>> - I just filled out what they told me to fill out and went back to
>>>>>> work.
>>>>> Someone else here will have to answer that, I don't have a clue.
>>>>>> Did I mention that I'm one of those guys who has never really wanted to
>>>>>> work for myself 'cause it scares the shit out of me...-
>>>>> You know what that reminds me of? A long time ago I hired a kid as a
>>>>> helper to run wires for me in this residential job that had some
>>>>> pretty tight attic crawl spaces. He had no experience but he was built
>>>>> slim and wanted the $10.00 an hour that I was offering. We get to the
>>>>> job and I take him up to the attic and show him what I want him to do.
>>>>> He's up in the attic on his belly and I'm down below snaking up. After
>>>>> about 15 20 minutes he's coming down the attic hatch all upset and
>>>>> really distressed. I ask him what's the matter. Almost in tears, he
>>>>> says ... I can't do this job. I gotta go home right now. I said,
>>>>> what's the matter. He says, I must be allergic to the insulation, I'm
>>>>> itching all over. I gotta go home! �I told him get the hell back up
>>>>> there EVERYBODY itches from insulation. I took some and rubbed it on
>>>>> my arm and said Wow, that shit itches like crazy. See how I ignore it?
>>>>> Now get back to work. You'll get over it in time.
>>>>> The moral of the story is ...... WHAT? do you think your the only one
>>>>> who'd ever been scared shitless to start their own business?
>>>>> EVERYBODY is afraid of what could happen if they fail. Just like war
>>>>> heros. They're no differen't than anyone else. They're afraid too.
>>>>> It's just that they get past the fear and do what has to be done,
>>>>> regardless of the possible consequences.
>>>>> I started my business when I had a chance to move ahead in the company
>>>>> I was working for at the time. I knew that if I stayed with them I'd
>>>>> probably be with them for a long, long time because I wouldn't be able
>>>>> to make the same money working for someone else and I'd be stuck
>>>>> working for them, whether I wanted to or not. . I was always the one
>>>>> who wanted to do things my way and did, much to the distress of my
>>>>> employers. But it turned out I was right more times than they liked to
>>>>> admit. Since no one in my family ever ran their own business, I had no
>>>>> idea that my attitude was one of the attributes that an entrepreneur
>>>>> needed, but I �decided to turn them down, quit and set the goal of
>>>>> getting 100 monitored accounts in one year. (actually I already had
>>>>> 35). I did it with a few to spare. �I often say that when I started on
>>>>> my own, so many years ago, that's when I learned to live on 4 or 5
>>>>> hours of sleep a night. Even if I was in bed for 8 hours, half the
>>>>> time my mind was racing 100 miles an hour trying to cover all the
>>>>> things I should be doing or didn't do and the possibility of failure
>>>>> and what the consequences would mean for me and my family and where
>>>>> was the money going to come from.............. I was just too damn
>>>>> stubborn to quit a let everyone see that I had failed at something. I
>>>>> worked hard, day and night, had a good work ethic, used common sense
>>>>> and picked and chose who to listen to and who not. It worked, and here
>>>>> I still am, 40 years later and still loving it .... every day.
>>>>> Once you're past the start up hurdles and you meet another
>>>>> entrepreneur, you begin to sense that feeling of camaraderie that we
>>>>> have. It's a great club to belong to. Put's you in a special category
>>>>> of people. Certainly, not everyone is cut out for it. You have to have
>>>>> some special attributes to do it. And by the way, keep in mind that
>>>>> when one door closes, another one has to open somewhere else. How you
>>>>> look at it is important. It's an opportunity to change your whole life
>>>>> but you have to commit to it and have the backing of your family too.
>>>>> Thanks to my wife who worked and also took care of and raised the kids
>>>>> during that time, it all turned out ok. Today I work only because I
>>>>> want to. I could have retired years ago, but this is mine. Something
>>>>> that I created, nurtured and made grow all by my will to succeed. I'm
>>>>> not the richest guy you know but you'd be hard put to find someone who
>>>>> enjoys what they do, more than me.
>>>>> By the way, I think that saying is true. Find what you like to do, do
>>>>> it and you'll never work a day in your life.
>>>>> Hope it works out for you too.
>>>> Also, I would use a lawyer to find out exactly what the non-compete
>>>> entails in your area, so you can get as close to the edge as possible
>>>> without getting in trouble. Make good use of all the insider info you
>>>> have. I'm not encouraging anything illegal, I'm just saying do what
>>>> you have to do to get your foothold in the market.
>>> To be honest I really don't want to compete with them in the area of
>>> alarms.
>>> Over the years I've heard a lot of electricians griping about pulling
>>> the low voltage stuff - mainly cat-5 & RG-6. �I'm hoping they hate it
>>> enough to sub it out. �I already did it on and off for one guy but at
>>> the time I didn't really NEED the money (it was basically a hobby that
>>> put a few bucks in my pocket) and most of his jobs were an hour away or
>>> more so I stopped.
>>> I should probably give him a call...
>>> The main hurdle for me is going to be money. �There were a lot of money
>>> related issues after my son died (dying is expensive - but some of it, I
>>> must confess due to my own inattention) and I'm still trying to repair
>>> my credit.
>>> So I'm still gonna spread around my resume and beat the bricks, but jobs
>>> are pretty scarce in Michigan these days - gotta make that mortgage...
>>> Say, Jim... �You wouldn't happen to be looking for a consultant or
>>> subcontractor up north would you?
>> Never mind, Jim - I got my ng's mixed up again - in my other ng there's
>> a 'Jim' who owns a business in Michigan.
>>
>> Unless of course you are in Michigan...-
>
> I was gonna say .......... Michigan would be quite a stretch for me.
> Besides, I hate it when you're doing new construction in the winter
> and it's so cold that when you straighten out a coil of four wire, the
> outer insulation crackels and falls off .

The Genesis wire we used usually withstood straightening - it was the
stapling that did it in.  I had insulation shatter with almost every staple.

I would keep a couple rolls of tape inside my coat and rotate them
around.  I put a wrap of tape on the wire then staple.  The insulation
would crack, but so what?  It's already taped up!