Thread: give me your advice on what to do with my life

I'd be doing what a few others have suggested, stick to the plastering
You'd have very little outlay so not much risk, you'd also be charging around the $40 per hour and if you are good at what you do, word soon spreads around so you won't be looking for work it will come to you

I do home maintenance / carpentry etc. I started nearly three years ago and every job I do is by word of mouth, I've never advertised as I'm kept busy enough.

I'm building my own home and the quotes I had to do the plasterboarding / setting ranged from $35 - $70 per hour Needless to say I've been doing it myself. Good luck with your decisions

mate one word of caution, you have aspirations to better you life for your kid good onya i applaud your commitment ...just don't forget the liability insurance ok

OK heres my two bobs worth.

DONT DO ANYTHING JUST YET.

The path to money is lined with people who started with the best intentions and went bust. First you need to understand about money, there are free courses all over Australia to help small business people. To be sucessful you need to understand about taxes, setting up a business or company (business first) are you going to be a single trader or partner. you need to understand basic accounting - profit and loss, asset and liability.

Successful business people understand the above and they pay experts to help them. In the begining a good book keeper is more important than an accountant. get someone who will come in and do them once a week / fornight for you.

No matter what you choose to do this is required before you can succeed. All the best with it - there are probably very good people on here who can offer advise in these areas but you need to go to the professionals to get the most indepth advise.

Cheers Blythe

I have worked with a hot mix crew and have had my own businesses over the years some good others bad. My advice stick with what you know. make sure your Partner is behind you 110%, Get the best equipment you can, old worn out gear will just cost you down time and you will end up getting a bad reputation, start small, keep your plastering job as long as you can as said before cashflow is king. Avoid business partnerships they can be more stressfull than marrige.

When i was working for the hotmix company we had this one bloke that used to come in with a tandem trailer and get a 1 tonne load of mix a few times a day. After talking with him I found out he went around fixing pot holes in drive ways and had no shortage of work as all the larger companies had a back log of work 6 months in advance and where not interested in doing these small jobs. He was usually paid up front and had next to no out lay other than a rake shovel, trailer. In my mind this is how a sucsessfull business starts by finding a niche and working up the ladder.

Good luck

Another option:
1. If you haven't already, do a plant operator's course and get yourself as qualified as possible.
2. Google Mine Jobs Australia, look around, post your resume wherever possible and look for a remote job for a few years until you save enought to set up on your own.

been thinking a lot and i think maybe if i can save up enough and buy either a bobcat or a 1-1.5t excavator and start out doing small work on weekends and if i am confident i can do it leave my current job keep plastering for myself and also do excavation which eva has work and try to eventually work my way up the ladder in excavation id love to try get a job in the mines somewhere doing fifo but i rekon ill just spend time getting no where