phow

Serial business owner. Was lucky that a few of them worked out

I will say being able to afford things like the 911 without having to think much about the cost is nice and I never take it for granted. I remember in my early 20's (I'm 31 now) when things like this seemed completely unattainable. It's amazing what 10+ years of hard work will accomplish.

However, what makes me feel most fortunate is being the master of my time. I would gladly give up the 911 and all of the other toys to not have to work for someone else again. Freedom is priceless.

freeman727

Unless you sit on millions or billions, win lottery or inherit money, you are still working. And although business owners and independent contractors don't have bosses, they do have lords. Hence the colloquial sayings like, "Don't night the hands that feed you."

There are are pluses and minuses to having bosses. No boss means charting your own territory. Having a Cush job means comfort and ease but little growth. Private practice for the non-academic folks beats employed jobs.

No matter what I'm glad to see everyone enjoy their cars and hopefully in good health!

phow

Lol when did I say I don't still work? I am currently active in 4 businesses and advise on several others. "Master of my time" simply means I choose how I spend my time. And I choose to spend most of my time on business ventures that I enjoy and find very fulfilling.

I do agree with you that there are pluses and minuses to both but this largely depends on your personality and what risk means to you. You may think what I do is extremely risky and I'm sure many would agree that it is. Personally, I find stagnation to be the biggest risk of all. If you are one of those that bets on a particular profession being there for you in 20-30 years, then you've got bigger ***** then I do

Gary JR

Retired way early, unapologetic, very busy, and no idea what you are talking about.

Stratus

I'm 51. I previously owned an e-commerce and wholesale distribution business which I recently sold. My 911 was a dream come true. It puts a smile on my face every time I take her out for a drive.

freeman727

Sorry I meant don't bite the hand which feeds you.

freeman727

Most business require kissing up to your clients. Sometimes you produce or create something that people come to you.

I have a 20 year plan, I'll be 55. I feel no need to risk it to make it 'big'. Everyone is different but being comfortable is the height of my ambitions. 11-12 weeks of vacation/year is plenty of time to do other things.

phow

Then you started the wrong business... There are plenty of businesses that you can start that don't require you to kiss up to clients. And even if you do have to do some kissing up at the beginning, you can eventually hire other people to handle the parts of the business you don't like dealing with.

freeman727

Nope, I'm not a traditional business owner (all private practice partners are technically business owners but not in the traditional sense) but most business owners are small business owners who need to work hard to make people happy. Even entrepreneurs like Steve jobs and bill gates worked very hard and had to put up with BS. If you have a successful business then you most likely had your fair share of BS before your relative comfort.

freeman727

One truth: Mo money mo problems - Notorius B.I.G.

freeman727

Too bad my problems aren't mountain sized. J/k

phow

Nobody said there isn't BS to deal with in starting and growing a business... I think you need to go back and read your posts again.

You were referring to specific pain points that not all businesses share. The businesses I'm involved in don't have a few large clients. We have 1000's of tiny customers and customer service systems in place to deal with the customer BS. So I personally don't deal with customers on a daily basis. That doesn't mean there isn't other nonsense I do deal with regularly. Again, my posts addressed your specific claim that most businesses have clients to kiss up to. That is simply not true.

freeman727

And moving on

gearboxtrouble

I work in energy trading. Theres a fair distribution of super high end tricked out pickups (its TX) and sports/super cars in my parking garage at work because its not uncommon to have wealthy young (under 40) people. Off the top of my head there's a McLaren 570S, multiple F Type Rs, many newer Porsches (including my own 991.1 GTS), a 2005 Ford GT, 2017 Audi R8 V10 Plus and a (occasionally seen) 1976 911 RSR. Most people daily something more practical - I drive my BMW M4 in to work 3 days a week so I guess my "practical" car is only slightly so.

In my experience, there's definitely some sort of relationship between profession and the probability of owning certain cars. In the trading/hedge fund/banking world, owning a 911 was almost a rite of passage for most people who started off as lowly graduates back in the 2000s. If not a 911 then definitely a M3 or C63 AMG. With a few exceptions, true exotics like Ferraris and Lamborghinis have always been regarded as a little too showy for most people I've known over my career. The younger people I see starting now appear to lean even more conservative in their car selections.

bkrantz

Yeah, but less money even mo problems.