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

Start small, go contracting weekends and spare time in your trade and pick up smaller jobs big companies dont want. You can make better money doing this. As work picks up then make a decision to go contracting full time. Small jobs dont carry the same finacial risk as bigger ones. Now you can look at deversifing into the bob cats etc. 5 to 10 year plan.
cheers
blaze

This is a hard one to answer without knowing a lot more about your financials which I'm sure you don't wish to post for all the world to see.

But one piece of advice I can offer is to try and get out of the rent and buy.
As I don't know where you live I can't advise on location but for a first home be prepared to go to a suburb a long way from the CBD.

You will get a lot cheaper and down the track you can move closer in if you wish. And start with something small and you can add or move latter.

And a word of warning. If you borrow to buy, make sure you factor interest rate rises, I would reckon of at least three percent higher than what they are now.

I am surprised when you say that you don't earn a lot I thought "tradies" these days did ok. I have heard of plumbers these days earning as much as doctors.

Have you ever thought of going out on your own as a plasterer?

Dave.

Originally Posted by bblaze

Start small, go contracting weekends and spare time in your trade and pick up smaller jobs big companies dont want. You can make better money doing this. As work picks up then make a decision to go contracting full time. Small jobs dont carry the same finacial risk as bigger ones. Now you can look at deversifing into the bob cats etc. 5 to 10 year plan.
cheers
blaze

gettin the work isnt the problem its getting the equipment i plan on starting with an older smaller tipper and a 2ton excavator than after 12months upgrade the truck than after anather 12months get a bobcat than a bigger excavator

Originally Posted by Mr Whippy

This is a hard one to answer without knowing a lot more about your financials which I'm sure you don't wish to post for all the world to see.

But one piece of advice I can offer is to try and get out of the rent and buy.
As I don't know where you live I can't advise on location but for a first home be prepared to go to a suburb a long way from the CBD.

You will get a lot cheaper and down the track you can move closer in if you wish. And start with something small and you can add or move latter.

And a word of warning. If you borrow to buy, make sure you factor interest rate rises, I would reckon of at least three percent higher than what they are now.

I am surprised when you say that you don't earn a lot I thought "tradies" these days did ok. I have heard of plumbers these days earning as much as doctors.

Have you ever thought of going out on your own as a plasterer?

Dave.

im happy to share my financials i earn about 700 a week and have about 2k to my name

depends on what you call good money its not to bad but its not much for how hard you work and the amount i spend on getting to work and tools

plumbers do earn good money so do sparkies and a/c blokes but plastering is different

I know how you feel about your wages, I am a mechanic by trade and they are paid simular wages.
When I first went into self employment, I worked in my trade, then progressed to printing and sign writing, selling computers etc with lots of little offshoots along the way.
I now install satalite and free to air tv systems, work on average 20 hrs a week and average a grand a week. Not to bad for a grease monkey
cheers
blaze

Personally, I would probably stay on the rental cycle a bit longer, until a definite path or opening appears that you can and wish to follow. This gives a certain amount of flexibilty re living close to work, and travelling to recreation, (and never the opposite) that you would forfeit if you buy too early. You are still pretty young so there are a lot of aspects of your selected path to learn about. Dont treat work as work, more as a learning curve, get as much variation as you can.
By all means have a dream and a target to strive for but plan well ahead, and don't really expect any great return for about 10 years or so. Things take time to eventuate. Despite what the "MacDonalds" train of business thought that is rife in Australia at the moment says, until you have been in your own business for a minimum of five years you will be considered a "fly by night".
Start small, work hard and plan ahead. Do without what you can do without and lease, rent or buy capital equipment only that is a "Must". Take note that there is a big difference between a 'Must have' and a 'It'd be nice to have'.
Spend time and get well known in your trade, as this is from where a lot of future recommendations and subcontracting will come.
Use sub contracting as a stepping stone, once again to get well known, but always remember the Contractor who subbies is using the subbie to build up his business so that he can justify putting on a man or machine to do it himself in the furture!!
Listen carefully to your partner, do they want the same thing that you are striving for. Will and can your partner offer input and support? If one of you has to change plans drastically there is something fundamentally wrong with the plan. Treat this section like a car, if you have to modify it heavily, you have bought the wrong vehicle!
Sounds like a bit of an oldie's rant doesn't it. When I started my own business 30 odd years ago I had great ideas and plans, but the business that eventually evolved and kept me going for all those years bore very little resemblance to the original concept. The same field, but somewhere along the way I happened to stumble upon a niche in that field that I previously didnt consider to be of any significance, and luckily I hadnt over capitalised to the extent that flexibility was out of the question.
Best of luck in whatever you decide.
Regards
Glen

Plastering would have a lower capital outlay than earth moving, you already know about plastering. Get yourself an ad in the yellow pages, a work vehicle and take it from there. As others have said, start taking on work on weekends, once you are confident then quit your paid job.

You should see if you can make a go of a plastering business before branching out.

im lieking this advice

what would be a good approach to finnacially get into excavation

keep renting save up and pay cash for a rough and old truck and machine
and work up from there

buy a house and use the equity to finance equipment
than as far as buying a house,
try save a deposit or borrow money put it into a interest earning account pay it off for 6months than use it to get a home loan(i will still owe money on it at that point)

even with a good buisness plan i wont get finance to start up as i have nothing to secure it with, i wouldent get into it unless i was sure, i am young but i want to start getting into a better financial career i want to give my family a better life i want to send my daughter to a good school i want to give her a good quality of life

atm its good not being in debt but one day im going to have to dive into it and spend time getting back out of it