Chase my Dreams or Scrap Them?

SMF Members,

My name is Kevin and I live in the Northern, VA area. I grew up in Fayetteville, NC which is why I joined the Navy at a young age. If anyone has been to Ft. Bragg then you'll understand my logic. I have a full time job with the federal government which pays me well. (Thank you tax payers) I have a scrapper mentality and am often asked if I am a hoarder. I believe in "better than scrap" prices but was raised to "work smarter, not harder" so scrapping has always been more of a mental activity for me vice physically and actually scrapping. My dad was the epitome of a blue collar worker except his shirts didn't have collars as he was a buyer for Reynolds Aluminum which later merged with ALCOA. I grew up going to work with him and throwing bags of aluminum cans up into the back of the 53' trailer and if I was lucky I would be able to grab some cool piece of aluminum to take home...

Okay, I may be going overboard on my intro so to wrap this up I am very, very interested in becoming a full-fledged scrapper and I need a mentor. There are so many questions in my head ad a lot of which have been answered by my perusing the SMF. As a dreamer and strategic thinker I have been mulling over the practicality of whether scrapping alone could be lucrative. The ideas I have are big ideas but none that probably have not been thought of or are being done now which is why I am asking here on SMF for a mentor.



Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! So let's Reuse that knowledge and get me started.

Good morning. With the price of scrap now, I wouldn't quit ANY government job just yet. Quit McDonalds sure....quit government job not right now. I would suggest doing the recycling as a side/second job for now to test the waters.

I always loved recycling since I was a child. When I quit my job over 11 years ago, it was the best choice I ever made. I formed my company and it is a good living. My job was a dead end career and I didn't receive a raise in over 5 years so I left.

We only live once, I would say go for your recycling dream but don't quit the government job yet. There is a TON of money to be made around DC/northern VA/Baltimore, you just have to find your niche.

If you need advise, just PM me or leave an email.

Tom

What APA said.

Only a fool tests the depth of a river with both feet

~ Unknown

Welcome to the forums from a sandbar off the coast of NC.

As the wise folks above stated...I'd not quit my job or anything crazy just yet.

Tons of info here to help you out till you find the mentor you seek, and plenty of fine folks also willing to help those who are willing to help themselves. I'll echo the others above an say...feel free to PM me if you like. I used to live up around North Va myself for quite a bit, an in DC. Now you couldn't pay me to go up there for longer then I need to be there...LOL. Sandbar life has ruined me when it comes to cities an populated places. Haha!

Anyhow, good luck to ya!

Sirscrapalot - Keeper of the traveling cooler.

I don't have anything to add that others haven't already touched on. Definitely keep the job. So many don't have one and are on the streets or on the verge of being there.


Thank you for your service and defending our freedoms. Or what freedoms still remain. *Not looking to take this into a political direction*

Keep your job. Where I'm from (NSW, Australia), they're hard to come by. It sounds the same everywhere. I've got uses for the scrap I get, but I'll happily hang onto anything I can't immediately use... it'll be worth something one day.

Thanks Tom and I do need some advice. At the very least some sense knocked into me if what I'm envisioning is crazy. You can reach me at kcp70junk which is my Gmail address.

Kevin

That I have been called before. If it is that deep you're bound to fall in sooner or later whilst testing the depth.

Thanks Sirscrapalot. There is definitely salt life in my future but I'm thinking more towards Belize. Having lived in this area I'll shoot you a PM if I get stuck. I still have a lot more researching to do on the forum here but am looking to make some sort of move/change in the next few years.

Kevin