How do your earn your living?

My name is Kevin Smith and I'm a full time hunting/fishing guide in northern Indiana.(believe it or not) I own and operate River City Outfitters llc. We offer duck,goose,dove and turkey hunts plus salmon and steelhead fishing on Lk Michigan and the St.Joe river. I specialize in layout hunts and trophy channel cats. I would have never been able to do this for a living without the support from my wife Danielle and all the instruction from Lou Tisch. Thanks to both of you.
Kevin
 
After a four year stint in "higher education" and leaving with nothing to show for it but an extremely high tolerance to mass quantities of alcohol I decided to get my act together. I was a welder/fabricator for awhile and I loved the work, but it was really hard on the body and the field had limited opportunities for advancement. I tested for a Deputy position in my home town and did not make it through the written. After a year of studying and actually getting prepared for the test I was the at top of the list after all was said and done. I have been a Deputy for three years now and love my job. I cannot see myself doing anything else. I currently work in the Corrections Dept. and would like to transfer to the Road Patrol sometime in the future. My benefits are good, I work twelve hour shifts, so with that and my vacation/comp/sick time I spend a lot of time on the water, and I make a decent wage. At 27, I can support my family and I am proud of what I do, that is the definition of success in my book.
 
Retired, retired, retired, retired ......... 30 years as an Army helicopter pilot, teaching seven years each, in two school districts, and now getting my social security while I can. My hat is off to all of you and wish you the best. R.Bell
 
Currently I work out of my house as a "field representative" for a company based in Jersey City NJ. In my job I survey properties on behalf of insurance companies. I don’t do claims. What I do is update information on existing policies or verify that the information on the policy is correct and up to date. I measure the building/buildings, determine the construction of the building (frame, metal or concrete) take exterior photos, interview the owner/tenant, grade fire sprinkler system, and/or what ever else the underwriter has questions about. My territory includes the Eastern half of ND and NW Minnesota. I have seen about every kind of business there is in my area. Office buildings, schools, churches, meat lockers, nano tech mfg, tattoo shop, farms, cafes/restaurants and on and on. My perspective quickly changed on some of the "favorite" restaurants after I got to poke around in their kitchen and take a look at the latest Health dept report. I meet rather unique and interesting people every week.
 
I manage an autobody repair shop that my father started and still owns. Working with insurance companies everyday and retaining your own ethics can be very difficult. You can see the easy money sitting right there if you're willing to lie and cheat for it. If you want it honestly it can be a real struggle sometimes. Go figure, it pays to be dishonest. That way they have you by the you know what when they want to yank your chain about something. We've been doing it the right way for 25 plus years and we'll keep doing it that way as long as we can keep the doors open. We've been making some dramatic changes to try to insure that we continue to keep on the right track for quite a while yet.

I am both the shop foreman and business manager so I have to wear both the technical and business hat at the same time most days, organization and efficiency are the only way to keep it all straight. I'm fortunate to have some great people or I could never keep it all under control. I've been working at getting a system in place so things run smoother when I out so I can do a little more hunting!

Gene
 
Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, but what I really want to do is what Dave Parks does.
 
For 37 years, I taught (English), Coached (Football / Track), and was a Guidance Counselor (last 15) at both the College & HS level. Also helped raise 7 kids of my own, so that has to qualify as a big chunk of the "what do you do?" list.

I retired as of last June, so now I get to do lots more of all the things I used to have to fit in around work. It was a weird feeling thinking about being retired at this past weeks MLB hunt. Sitting in the blind or layout each day, it dawned on me that when it was over, I would have to return to...... hunting home waters and making decoys!

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Bob,

I enjoyed your post, right up to,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Sitting in the blind or layout each day, it dawned on me that when it was over, I would have to return to...... hunting home waters and making decoys!
Click to expand...


At that point I realized I was beginning to feel envy and lust, which meant I had to stop reading so as not to continue in sin.
 
Neat thread, I'm surprised at the number of teachers here.

Me, I'm an ag banker. Out of college I took the first job offered to me and have now been at it for 20 years. It's greatest perk is that I'm loaning money to a lot of guys that have large farms and most don't mind if I hunt on them.
 
Lineman, I think I have a great job that I enjoy doing and I'm good at it...I work outdoors, with two handed tools and big trucks and I've got a partner who's one of my closest friends. Weird part is he is as anti-hunting as I am pro-hunting. Somehow we get along great and agree to disagree. Maybe cause our lives at times depend on each other. Regardless, it's like adult play land

Sab
 
I'm a Manufacturing Engineer for this company. My focus the last few years has been on robotic weld automation.
If the right opportunity presented itself I would love to teach at the technical college level.


Joe Lane
 
currently I'm the " phone guy " for Nissan in Canton Ms. , just me , Fun most of the time , pain in the .......other times.

Jobs I've held........built out retail stores for Cellular south ,
circuit design / sales technical help desk for MCI/Worldcom, swear it wasn't my fault :),
Ran a pawn swop ,
did "fugitive recovery" ,
a little " bite man" work as a dog trainer
was a jeweler ,
and ran Dairy Queens ( family had 5)
sure theres a few I've missed......................it was all fun at the time, and NO , i can't get you free ice cream. :)
 
Business owner 21 years, volunteer firefighter 15 years.
Custom cabinet shop owner in western Colorado. Came out to CO from MN for a one year hotel remodeling job and never went back. Took over the tools and inventory of an existing shop in 1987 and have been growing ever since. In 1996 I built a new building and invested in the lastest European CNC panel processing equipment for woodworking.After a year of fine tuning the computer programing with the fabrication machinery everything fell into place to make a decent living. Our market is the Aspen area building high end custom cabinetry for the rich and famous.The only downside to my business is having to work 60+ hours a week. What little free time I have I spend with my family,fly fishing, and bird hunting.
You can check out my biz at www.rfcabinets.com
 
As a Mechanical Engineer the family beans and bacon are earned in designing and improving coal fired combustion systems.

Before making it to college there were 10 years in the U.S. Navy of which living in and traveling throughout Europe were the highlight.
 
Mechanical Engineer - Spent 5 year in the Submarine industry, now working for Westinghouse (CE) working on Nuclear Reactor vessel internals.
 
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