Can I Get Some Advice?

todoubled05 · April 18, 2008

Welp, first this has nothing to do with trucks. I'm in a delima and I'm open for all advice to help me make my decision. here we go. Well I will be 21 this July and a have a pretty good and dependable job, with excellent benefits and 401K.. This past easter my Uncle who I am pretty close to owns a A/C Company in a SMALL town in texas. ( I'm in houston) After asking me about my past A/C experience he offerd me a job, working with him learning everything there is to know getting licenses and such then buying the business a couple years down the road. he has been in business for 25 years and has made quite a bit of money.

when I brought up the topic with my parents they both told me it was a bad idea to work for my uncle because of the possibilities of our relationship to be ruined..

I think I want to go and do this but shit.. I will be moving from the heart of the 4th largest city in the country to one with the population of 2000. also along with this trade comes work and long hours.. do I want to do this for the rest of my life? are my parents right? what do yall think? what would you do in my situation?? thanks for the advice everyone!

pennzoil29 · April 18, 2008

If you are in a well established company with benefits and retirement, and can move up the ladder, then I would urge you to stay where you're at. Any type of home improvement business is just to up and down. There are way to many competitors out there. jmo

gave20 · April 18, 2008

I worked for my uncle growing up and we had a good relationship, as I was going through college I had to quit to finish my degree, after that our relationship hasn't been the same. He wanted me to take over the business and I would have been willing to do that but I couldn't work and go to school at the same time, something he couldn't understand. I'd think long and hard before I would work for family again.

cerbomark · April 18, 2008

depends on what kind of job you have now. Is it a trade or skilled job>? The AC job would give you a trade which you can build on later on. Your young too, so if the AC job didn t work, what would be the worst thing?

VMax2007 · April 18, 2008

An A/C business in Texas??? nah, it'll never work. You'd be better off selling freezers to eskimos.

I say...GO FOR IT!!!! I would do it in a heartbeat, you can always go back to working for the "The Man" if it doesn't work out.

No guts, no glory....do it!!!

I am assuming since he has been doing for 25 years, he is fairly successful. No reason you can't be also.

bassadict69 · April 18, 2008

Many of us who have been working for "The Man" for years wish that something like that would have come our way! Working for yourself & making YOURSELF rich beats the shit out of working to make "THE MAN" rich!

I say go for it!

todoubled05 · April 18, 2008

If you are in a well established company with benefits and retirement, and can move up the ladder, then I would urge you to stay where you're at. Any type of home improvement business is just to up and down. There are way to many competitors out there. jmo

this is also that was brought to my attention. there are times in the A/C business whare it get extremly slow.. however the most I can make whare I am at now is 22. an hour and I'm pretty close to that's.. the skills I have with what I do now can not be used anywhare else...

todoubled05 · April 18, 2008

to give yall a better idea of what I do ill explain. I operate a 4 1/2" Cold Pilger Mill. a mechine that handles raw stainless and allow pipes (304 310 400 200 600 2205 800 and 825) and "stretching and shrinks" the meterial into a useable tube/pipe by using an extreme amount of pressure and force. The mill I run is the largest of the 5 located in the United states. basically like I said before, the skills iv learned doing this can't be used elsewhere besides germany and italy...

Darkanion · April 18, 2008

to give yall a better idea of what I do ill explain. I operate a 4 1/2" Cold Pilger Mill. a mechine that handles raw stainless and allow pipes (304 310 400 200 600 2205 800 and 825) and "stretching and shrinks" the meterial into a useable tube/pipe by using an extreme amount of pressure and force. The mill I run is the largest of the 5 located in the United states. basically like I said before, the skills iv learned doing this can't be used elsewhere besides germany and italy...

I'm not too sure about the working for the family aspect of the situation. But, if the skill you have now can really only be used at your place or in Germany or Italy, I think I'd have some concerns about job security.

For example, a German or Italian company buys your company out OR .. your company decides to off-shore / out-source your job to somewhere that they can get cheaper labor. (When I was in my early to mid 20's, I never thought "computer jobs" would get off-shored or out-sourced to what I consider to be third-world countries....... But, here I sit, watching it happen every day... But, I digress!)

I have to agree with what some others have said. It would've been nice to have had an opportunity like this present itself when I was younger.. And, in Texas, an HVAC guy will always be able to find work. It may be long hours in hot attics, etc.. But, you can always find work and make some pretty decent money (so I hear) while doing it.

You mentioned the town he's in having a population of only 2k people.. Where in the world is this place? Seems to me that your uncle would need to be pulling in more business than "just" the 2k people in his town to have survived and thrived for 25 yrs...?

hubbycap · April 18, 2008

There is no sure thing working for a company, they're bought out, merged, management changes, etc. The a/c business isn't all about building/remodeling, there is repair, and that's where the money is. As far as slow seasons go, that's when farmers vacation. To have a chance to learn a solid technical vocation that will never go out of style, what is the down side?

I've been in my own businesses for over 30 years and I have failed before, but the satisfaction of calling my own shots is worth the risk. If you find you don't like the area or your uncle, you can always take that knowledge back to where you are now.

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

Theodore Roosevelt

Z_71_steve · April 18, 2008

i'll give you the same sort of scenerio i was in with my parents... my dad is a union 597 pipefitter... there the highest payed no bs union in the state i believe... i think its bigger then that but im not sure.. but he's also a part time firefighter...

now one day i told my dad i was gonna stop going to college and just join 597 and become a pipefitter...and the look on his face was... well lets just put it .. not that great.. he almost looked dissapointed ( he wants me to finish school and get some big bad fancy desk job) ... now after thinking about it for a while i decided i was just going to do it... i mean my dad makes GREAT money... mom hasnt had a real job in 20 years...

i also am enrolled in emt school/ and the fire academy... where i'm a cadet... and learning to do one of the best jobs in the world... and the other day when i was pulling hose about 300ft by myself to the side of a building and my dad was engineer on the truck... id never seen him look prouder!!!

so after all that ranting and raving! i say go for it!!!! if your happy.. your secure with your job and u've got nothing to loose!!! then get out there and do it!!!! dont waste your time thinking... trust me i blew 2 years doing that... and i regret it everyday i'm gettin my chops busted for bein the proby!!!!!!!!!

just my .02...

steve

Wingnut · April 18, 2008

I'd be on it like stink on a monkey in a sweltering south Texas summer.

Some of the most $$$ people I know own their own A/C or plumbing business...They're also some of the coolest people with money I know.

I'd start my own business but you see...I'm lazy. I'd screw off all day on the internet.

pennzoil29 · April 18, 2008

Don't take what I said about staying where you are the wrong way. Being in business for yourself, "when and if that will happen for you" is a good thing. I've been self employed for nearly 30 yrs. You control your own destiny. Self employment taxes can be a real killer though. Will your uncle take taxes out for you, or will he 1099 you at the end of the year. Also, are you good with the general public, in other words, are you a gifted bull shitter so you can pick up your own work when the time arrives to do so. Work is not going to come knocking on your door, I don't care how good you are. Anyhow, good luck in your decision, and keep on truckin'.

Zembonez · April 18, 2008

The problem with this scnario is that there is no right or wrong answer. I've always been one to take that chance and go for it... IF I thought the move was a good one. I've made a couple of blunders but for the most part I am happy to have jumped in!

I can't understand anybody working the same dreadfull job for 25 years and then getting retirement. I've had friends that did it but I'd rather be shot. Too boring for me. Adventure is where it's at in life as far as I see. You only get one shot (and it ain't about what your parents think).

You can be responsible, make great money, and have a ball in life if you look outside the "NORMAL" people's opinions. I have.

SoCalChris · April 18, 2008

Many of us who have been working for "The Man" for years wish that something like that would have come our way! Working for yourself & making YOURSELF rich beats the shit out of working to make "THE MAN" rich!

I say go for it!

I'd say go for it now. Like you mentioned, you've pretty much topped out your current job, and you're only 22. You've got a chance to take a risk, and possibly end up with your own already established, successful business. I would definitely go for it now, before you have obligations with a family & kids that make taking a risk like this too much.