What is a "Professional"?

Couple of thoughts that come to mind...
- Must have good to great knowledge of what you are doing.
- Respected by not only your peers but people and or customers outside of your field.
- Be able to generate a substatial income from your service or product.
- And of course have a catchy title such as "Commodities Reclamation Engineer".

Originally Posted by Mick

Good thoughts, KZBell. How would you measure each so there would be a general agreement when professional status is reached? For instance, in some professions, a license acknowledges a level of expertise.

Unless you have a business registered with a state I would have a hard time calling you a professional. Because this is about maing money, unless you have taken it to the next level by registering at the state level and possibly getting insurance, I would have a hard time calling you a professional as opposed to a hobbyist or an amateur.

Originally Posted by S-Crap

Unless you have a business registered with a state I would have a hard time calling you a professional. Because this is about maing money, unless you have taken it to the next level by registering at the state level and possibly getting insurance, I would have a hard time calling you a professional as opposed to a hobbyist or an amateur.

I might have to disagree with this. My main job is as a computer programmer. I have been doing this for about 30 years. I am making money at it and consider myself a professional, but do not have to be registered with the government. I personally think the title professional has more to do with your proficiency at the endevor, whether it be computers or scrapping. At my level with the scrapping I just consider myself an amateur, as there are many things about this endevor I still do not know.

Registering with the state is just a fund raiser for them although at least you can open a bank account a little eaisier with that paperwork. I started my construction business over 20 years ago, registered with the state the first year and have never renewed again (suppossed to do it annually). Other licenses like electrical or plumbing do require logging hundreds if not thousands of hours under supervision and you must be tested as well...so I do give credit there. But with the shortfall many cities are seeing they want you to have a license for just about any type of construction work any more, the thing is though, you don't have to prove you know anything they just want your money. Bottom line for me is, are you making money and are you respected by your peers and customers? If the ladder is not true you won't be making money for long.

My definition of a professional...

If you stopped doing it today, could you maintain your way of life?

Yes - Not Pro

No - Pro

It's not foolproof, but for the most part it works for me. :-)

Scrapping's been good to me this past winter. I've been fortunate to have a partner with 30 years experience. Now that the construction season is upon me we're going to keep scrapping and incorporate it into the environmental services my landscape company offers.

Sure it's not going to make me millions, but it will be nice to be able to claim some gas receipts for all the driving around we do. I've done two landscape jobs this year and scored a full load of scrap from each customer's garage and backyard.

It's a free-for-all this time of year in my city for scrap. Lately my partner and I have been swapping day and night 'shifts' so there's always one of us scrapping around the clock. Not cause we're obsessed with making money, but we're amassing an actual junkyard to compensate rain days, we're both chronic insomniacs and dammit, we love to be out there hunting for treasures.

I don't consider myself a professional, but I am a Scrapper.

A-Man to that....

My definition of a Professional scrapper is the one that seems to have a magnet built into his hands, the ability to weigh objects with just his eyes, the look of disdain when he see's some idjit that is telling him how it should be, and the character to steer the idjit onto the right path.

The knowledge and character, do not come with age, or license. It is combination of all their knowledge in their chosen field, the ability to deal with the idjits that would look down upon them for working in their chosen field, and making said idjits understand that they are dealing with a professional.

Originally Posted by Insanity

My definition of a professional...

If you stopped doing it today, could you maintain your way of life?

Yes - Not Pro

No - Pro

It's not foolproof, but for the most part it works for me. :-)

Thats keeping it Simple!!!!