OT - Do any of you guys have side gigs?

DoubleEgger

johnkitchens said:

HofstraJet said:

DoubleEgger said:

I'm surprised at the number of folks with side gigs. Maybe I should find something but I've found that my free time is the most valuable thing I have. 

I guess part of the answer depends on whether the side gig is because it is enjoyable or it is needed financially (it always helps financially - who doesn't want a few extra dollars?). 

For me it is both. I love building websites AND making money. I can survive fine without the money, but when people call me wanting to do a job it is hard to turn the money down. 

This is what caused my divorce years ago. My wife was a hair stylist making crazy amounts of money. Too hard for her not to turn down the money for working extra hours. We never saw each other and we drifted apart. I learned a valuable life lesson early on. Time with my wife is the best side gig I can have.

Skiddymarker

HofstraJet said:

DoubleEgger said:

I'm surprised at the number of folks with side gigs. Maybe I should find something but I've found that my free time is the most valuable thing I have. 

I guess part of the answer depends on whether the side gig is because it is enjoyable or it is needed financially (it always helps financially - who doesn't want a few extra dollars?). 

True words here, Some folks need the drive, some the money, others need to just stop and smell the roses, right before my grandson drives the battery powered Gator over the rose bed. Grand kids keep us busy, no time for a side gig and thanks to Old Age Security, Canada Pension Plan, private pension plan and some prudent investments have the money to enjoy the time with family - does not get better. 

johnkitchens

DoubleEgger said:

johnkitchens said:

HofstraJet said:

DoubleEgger said:

I'm surprised at the number of folks with side gigs. Maybe I should find something but I've found that my free time is the most valuable thing I have. 

I guess part of the answer depends on whether the side gig is because it is enjoyable or it is needed financially (it always helps financially - who doesn't want a few extra dollars?). 

For me it is both. I love building websites AND making money. I can survive fine without the money, but when people call me wanting to do a job it is hard to turn the money down. 

This is what caused my divorce years ago. My wife was a hair stylist making crazy amounts of money. Too hard for her not to turn down the money for working extra hours. We never saw each other and we drifted apart. I learned a valuable life lesson early on. Time with my wife is the best side gig I can have.

I respect that. You have to have limits.  I have been married 25 years. A little time apart does us good! 

Botch

ThrillSeeker said:

I'm starting to dip my toe into commercial and residential property management and would like to get into that full time.

I did residential property management for a couple years, just one house, ensure it was rented and have things fixed as required while the owners were stationed in Germany.  
It takes a special personality to do this, one that I don't have.  Constantly had renters skipping out, leaving disgusting messes, new renters trying to bypass any security deposits (or offering me a 40-lb chunk of turquoise as a deposit!), and things (plumbing, swamp coolers, ovens, furnaces) alwaysalwaysalways broke the evening before a 3-day weekend!  Every. Single. Time!!
I've worked with several AF officers who did this, not always planning to, but it became a very lucrative business for them and that's what they did after retirement, so it is doable.
But its definitely not for me; never again.  

DoubleEgger

@Botch I hear ya. One of my closet friends used to do rentals. After tenets burned down two of his houses he called it quits. The final straw was when a woman piled everything her cheating boyfriend owned into the living room, gassed it and torched the place. 

fishlessman

so glad i passed on a three family for my first house and bought a small house on a lake, then bought a second house on a lake up north for the weekends

dgaddis1

My grandparents were in real estate and had lots of rentals.  They were a classic story of the American Dream.  Both started dirt poor, but worked their butts off and ended up doing very well for themselves.  They put three grandkids through college, including me.  But watching them deal with rentals over the years...I have no interest in that at all.  My mom is helping my grandpa with them now, and they're working on getting them sold off and out of their hands.

My dad had a side gig, he did wedding videos in the metro ATL area (Gaddis Video) for 30yrs, part of that full time.  He's phased it out now though, he's burned out, and doesn't need the extra income.  Me and my sister are both grown and out of the house.

My side gig was part hobby turn business part wanting some additional source of income in case I get laid off.  Consulting engineering has lots of work to do...but not always where you live, and I will never be one of those Company Men who uproots his family and moves for a job.  Seen it happen too many times and then they still get laid off when things slow down.  At my previous employer a guy spent about a year leading a project in India, then finally sold his house and moved his wife and kids over there with him, and 3 weeks later the client canceled the job.  He didn't get laid off, just moved to a new project, but he came back to the States, had to buy a new house, etc.  Bump that.

Anyhow...3yrs of side gig and it grew to where it was tough to keep up with it.  Then we decided to move to be closer to family, so I'd have to leave my day job anyways, so now is the time to try and take it full time and see if it'll go.  Here's hoping!!

johnkitchens

dgaddis1 said:

My grandparents were in real estate and had lots of rentals.  They were a classic story of the American Dream.  Both started dirt poor, but worked their butts off and ended up doing very well for themselves.  They put three grandkids through college, including me.  But watching them deal with rentals over the years...I have no interest in that at all.  My mom is helping my grandpa with them now, and they're working on getting them sold off and out of their hands.

My dad had a side gig, he did wedding videos in the metro ATL area (Gaddis Video) for 30yrs, part of that full time.  He's phased it out now though, he's burned out, and doesn't need the extra income.  Me and my sister are both grown and out of the house.

My side gig was part hobby turn business part wanting some additional source of income in case I get laid off.  Consulting engineering has lots of work to do...but not always where you live, and I will never be one of those Company Men who uproots his family and moves for a job.  Seen it happen too many times and then they still get laid off when things slow down.  At my previous employer a guy spent about a year leading a project in India, then finally sold his house and moved his wife and kids over there with him, and 3 weeks later the client canceled the job.  He didn't get laid off, just moved to a new project, but he came back to the States, had to buy a new house, etc.  Bump that.

Anyhow...3yrs of side gig and it grew to where it was tough to keep up with it.  Then we decided to move to be closer to family, so I'd have to leave my day job anyways, so now is the time to try and take it full time and see if it'll go.  Here's hoping!!

If you don't mind me asking who did you work for in Augusta? 

Jupiter Jim

He gets the silicone at Home Depot!

Jupiter Jim

Left teaching electrical wiring back in 2007, started the electrical contracting business back up found a great partner to run the business in 2012 and retired. Now a full time BGE cult member! Egg Fest nut! Also buy and sell Junk/Antiques/Collectables.

sheetmetalpete

I've got a part-time sign business - mainly truck lettering and small decals.  It's dying down though.  Lots of competition and technology changes.   

NPHuskerFL

Used to do some HVAC/R moonlighting but, no more.

dgaddis1

johnkitchens said:

dgaddis1 said:

My grandparents were in real estate and had lots of rentals.  They were a classic story of the American Dream.  Both started dirt poor, but worked their butts off and ended up doing very well for themselves.  They put three grandkids through college, including me.  But watching them deal with rentals over the years...I have no interest in that at all.  My mom is helping my grandpa with them now, and they're working on getting them sold off and out of their hands.

My dad had a side gig, he did wedding videos in the metro ATL area (Gaddis Video) for 30yrs, part of that full time.  He's phased it out now though, he's burned out, and doesn't need the extra income.  Me and my sister are both grown and out of the house.

My side gig was part hobby turn business part wanting some additional source of income in case I get laid off.  Consulting engineering has lots of work to do...but not always where you live, and I will never be one of those Company Men who uproots his family and moves for a job.  Seen it happen too many times and then they still get laid off when things slow down.  At my previous employer a guy spent about a year leading a project in India, then finally sold his house and moved his wife and kids over there with him, and 3 weeks later the client canceled the job.  He didn't get laid off, just moved to a new project, but he came back to the States, had to buy a new house, etc.  Bump that.

Anyhow...3yrs of side gig and it grew to where it was tough to keep up with it.  Then we decided to move to be closer to family, so I'd have to leave my day job anyways, so now is the time to try and take it full time and see if it'll go.  Here's hoping!!

If you don't mind me asking who did you work for in Augusta? 

CH2M Hill was my previous employer.  I think they just go by CH2M now?  They closed the Augusta office 2yrs ago, some folks transferred to Spartanburg/Greeneville, but most of us stayed and re-opened as the engineering arm of Century 3 Inc, which was a great change that I kind of hate to leave.

And for the record, I wasn't trying to call CH out.  I've seen lots of folks be the Company Man and get the shaft from all sorts of companies.  CH actually did right by me for the most part.  When the recession hit they tried to keep as many folks as they could, instead of laying people off they essentially made them part time, where we could work so long as we had billable work, but if not we stayed home without pay, but, we did keep insurance, continue to accrue time off, etc.  

My dad even had 4 different employers (accounting was his day job) in a 1.5yr time frame because everywhere he went got bought out by a larger company and then shut down.  Same thing has happened to my mom several times.  I've been laid off when my office shut down, changed jobs once before I got laid off when the Great Recession hit, changed jobs again when my portion of a project was coming to a close, and changed jobs once because the job sucked and a better *much* higher paying job fell into my lap.

So watching my parents get laid off again and again when companies closed or downsized, and having to change jobs myself (4 moves in the 9yrs I've been out of college), having so many coworkes who've moved all over the country for various employers, all of that has lead me to want to be more independent, to feed myself so to speak, not rely on The Man.  Both of my grandpas worked for the same company in the same location their entire working lives, made decent money, and retired with good pension plans.  That world doesn't exist anymore though.

johnkitchens

dgaddis1 said:

If you don't mind me asking who did you work for in Augusta? 

CH2M Hill was my previous employer.

I have never heard of them. I worked in Augusta for a few years. I was just wondering where you had worked. 

dgaddis1

johnkitchens said:

dgaddis1 said:

If you don't mind me asking who did you work for in Augusta? 

CH2M Hill was my previous employer.

I have never heard of them. I worked in Augusta for a few years. I was just wondering where you had worked. 

The Augusta office used to be Lockwood Greene, which got bought by CH2M Hill, they're one of the largest consulting firms in the world.  We do consulting work with local manufacturing/chemical plants, so I've done projects in a lot of the local plants.

johnkitchens

I worked for a CPA firm and for E-Z-Go Textron and GIW Industries. That was after college. Before college I worked at 3 papermills, and a couple of other places! 

dgaddis1

Cool.  I've done some work at Resolute Forest Products (fun trivia - largest user of electricity in GA until last year when a paper mill in Savannah took the lead), a little work at Kimberly Clarke, but most of my work has been in chemical plants doing piping work.  I've got some riding buddies that work at Textron and International Paper.

billt01

I ran a small BBQ catering company for about two years...I could probably still be doing it today, but side gig's are too time consuming. My wife and two girls take up ALL of my free time. Not much profit margin in BBQ for the time it takes and the cost of the product. Money ain't everything

Cashfan

I always seem to have side jobs. It was painting and taping side jobs for a long time, until I started my own painting and taping business. Now its college. Went to college for the first time at age 34 and  I am about a year away from finishing a double major Accounting and Business Bachelor's degrees. Hopefully I can get out of the painting business soon.

Grilling is my other side job. I have been cooking and blessing people with food from time to time, and that is very rewarding.

I try to enjoy life. Neither of my parents made age 70, and I want to make sure I enjoy life, not work all the time. 

Jeremiah

Cashfan said:

I always seem to have side jobs. It was painting and taping side jobs for a long time, until I started my own painting and taping business. Now its college. Went to college for the first time at age 34 and  I am about a year away from finishing a double major Accounting and Business Bachelor's degrees. Hopefully I can get out of the painting business soon.

Grilling is my other side job. I have been cooking and blessing people with food from time to time, and that is very rewarding.

I try to enjoy life. Neither of my parents made age 70, and I want to make sure I enjoy life, not work all the time. 

YES!

YukonRon

 Time with my wife is the best side gig I can have.

Concur. 

I thought I had lost everything, when I lost it all. After wandering through life, aimlessly, for years, I became extremely fortunate, I met a wonderful person, that has since become, My Beautiful Wife. I will not lose her. She is everything. I do not miss any of those things I had lost previously. 

Many things are much more important, in my life and in hers, these days.
 
Our free time is devoted to our children, our home, and we serve our community via many different opportunities, through volunteer/charity for others.

Whatever we do, we do it together. We have different careers, but when we are home, our careers are not.

I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I am damn sure, today, is going to be great.

Legume

tarheelmatt

dgaddis1 said:

johnkitchens said:

dgaddis1 said:

If you don't mind me asking who did you work for in Augusta? 

CH2M Hill was my previous employer.

I have never heard of them. I worked in Augusta for a few years. I was just wondering where you had worked. 

The Augusta office used to be Lockwood Greene, which got bought by CH2M Hill, they're one of the largest consulting firms in the world.  We do consulting work with local manufacturing/chemical plants, so I've done projects in a lot of the local plants.

Very familiar with CH2M. I see their drawings frequently. 

Dobie

I feel like a slacker here with my 50 hour a week only job. Wife can't stand as much as I work now since I don't get much time off except weekends. I'm pretty sure if I make it to old age I won't look back and say I wished I worked more. We're DINK,s and live below our means so we rather have our time off. 

northGAcock

Jupiter Jim said:

Left teaching electrical wiring back in 2007, started the electrical contracting business back up found a great partner to run the business in 2012 and retired. Now a full time BGE cult member! Egg Fest nut! Also buy and sell Junk/Antiques/Collectables.

.....how could you forget your primary work responsibilities?....what ever Ms Kay wants you to do.

Little Steven

I do beer tasting part time. When I retire from the day job I'm going full time

ColtsFan

I do some IT consulting on the side and help friends and family with PC/IT issue's. I get paid in Bourbon from the friends and family that's the best part. I'm a network engineer M-F

SkinnyV

After 7 years as a stay at home dad... I am now ready to dive back into something (it will need to be flexible no way we both do 45_50 + hours a week away from kids) . We will see where the wind takes me, it's been a blast being with my kids since their birth but it is also nice to know changes are ahead.

I have been known to drive Lyft (like Uber) Friday and sat nights... had a nice streak of revenue for 6 months just working 2 days... it's tapered off (too many drivers) but I will get back out and see how it is Friday.

McStew

My side gig is playing golf and I will take your money while doing it. 

Ozzie_Isaac

I thought we were talking about mistresses.  I get enough work talk IRL