Kind of pertinant to another thread, but I didnt want to shift the focus of that post to me cuz I woulda felt like a hijacker. Was just kind of thinking about buisness and luck, destiny, whatever you call it...
Im not a full time scrapper, but I'd say Im a life time entrepeneur. My father owened his own buisness, as did his father and his father. So I dont really see this board as just a bunch of recyclers, but more a bunch of self made individuals. And with that said, some will be self made success stories, and sadly, some will be not so successfull. But self made, just the same, in my opinion. Ive had several buisnesses in my life, and as much as I hate to admit it, Im getting older now, but ive heard that heappens to everyone. Ive done renovations, remodeling, and building, ect. I can do roofing, plumbing and electrical. Ive had my own on-line buisness. A lawn service. I installed sattelite for a while. Did flea markets. But of all the things I ever did, tried to do, or wanted to do, I like buying and selling things the most. Buy low, sell high. I had a four thousand square foot store/auction house about ten or twelve years ago, when I discovered I also had a natural talent as an auctioneer. And it was FUN. and very profitable. And.. I was GOOD. Now that became my biggest dream. I began building my own small auction empire. There's just something about that auction sound. the chant, the buzz, the action. But when YOUR the guy up there with the mic... boy. WHAT A THRILL. Life is good. 9 11 2011. Buisness just stopped. People quit buying. I ended up selling the store and a week later... super walmart buys the woods across the street. The property I had just practilly givin away dirt cheap became worth one mil over night. I tried to drink myself to death.
As a result of too much booze and too many cigerettes I developed throat cancer of all things. I was close to death. I had my larynx (and a bunch of other stuff) removed, and I now breath through a hole in the front of my neck. I can barely talk, I have a "voice prostesis" and sound kind of like a frog gasping for air. I will never auction again. Folks tell me I can still have an auction house, and hire auctioneers, but um... no. That would make me miserable. Today Im free of cancer. I work a nine to five as maintenance supervisor for a big apartment building/managing firm. I build, roof, paint, whatever on weekends. Also, I gather and recycle scrap as much as possible. (though lately Im just gathering and stacking it) So. Whats the point. is there a moral to the story? There is. I just havnt figured it out, and Ive givin up trying to. Its not my job. But Im not one of those joyous skippy smiling from ear to ear "it's great to still be alive!" evangalist survivors. I wake up every day and look in the mirror to see if im still there , and if I am, its gonna be an OK day. People say you make your own destiny. This is NOT true. WE have zero controll over whats about to take place ... BUT WE ARE THE MASTER OF OUR REACTION TO CIRCUMSTANCE... and here's what I know for sure. When I pass from this world, I will not be sitting in my rocker feeling sorry for myself. I'll wipe my own ass untill the day I die, and with any luck, I'll be doing something usefull and have some tool in my hand when I do go out. If you choose to stay in recycling, if you love it, if you have a passion for it.. do it. Dont cry too much about the prices being down, either, because hey.. tomorrow you could loose your arms or your eyes. If you choose NOT to stay in the buisness, thats your choice as well. But dont sit around feeling sorry for yourself blaming God or the rest of the world. Find something to do and get busy doing it. When buisness is the slowest, thats when you need to work the hardest. Somebody somewhere is gonna be very rich when scrap prices go back up, because right now theyre busting their butt instead of giving up. At least, thats how I look at it. right now, anyway...
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Originally Posted by acain
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