Is my business enough?

[erichtecreator]

Hello all, i am 15 years old. I know i have posted lots of threads on this forum, but thats what young people do, ask questions. Currently i own a small lawnmowing business. This year, i have made about 850 dollars, which i know isnt too good, but i plan to expand a lot. I am a car nut as well (young person and car nut dont go well). This is how I want my life to pan out. My first car will be likely something very cheap, cheap insurance also. For my second car, I figured i could MAYBE afford something around 20-40k. That is if i find a good job and continue on with the lawnmowing business. Finally, around age 35-40, I would like to purchase the car of my dreams, whatever it may be at that moment (I could purchase some of this with trade in from my previous car). Right now it is a Nissan GTR, but im 15 and that will most likely stop production. I know cars like its my job, all i do on my laptop is look up cars, whether its videos, or performance data. I know the performance data for every sportscar in the world. Im not dreaming here, and im also not the kind of person who just says "im going to get a nice car when Im older because im going to be rich". I want to take my cars to shows. and meet other people with the same passion as me. My question is, will I be able to achieve this if I go on with lawnmowing? Please only real answers, not simply "you can get from A-B in a 2000 dollar car." I have sleepless nights worrying if later in my life i will get these kinds of cars, and need some help from someone who knows money a little bit more than i do. Is my lawnmowing business enough to buy a first car and possibly a down payment on the second car?
Thanks for taking your time to read, and every reply will be appreciated.
Eric

[Dimolimo]

It's really nice to see young people struggling to make a nice buck. From my experience to make a decent money out of it you need hard work and serious patience especially when your business is not branded. Arm yourself with knowledge (read on marketing, seo forums) how to do that and that. Because you don't have money your business will develop slow, but that's not a bad thing. Don't chase the mouse that everybody is already chasing. Try and make a plan before you go out there. Merge good content with social media, on page strategy and keywords analysis.
Be there and everywhere and you will have results.
p:s
It's not about a car. Trust me. Now days you can everyone wants to have a machine for coffee, a machine for painting...Back in 80s you were cool for having some nice jeans. Don't put so much value on things. Because you will turn out to be a robot and work to keep them and maintain them. Trust me all these stuff cost a lot not just to have them but also to keep them alive.

All the best,
Matt:)

[Harold Mansfield]

Hello all, i am 15 years old. I know i have posted lots of threads on this forum, but thats what young people do, ask questions. Currently i own a small lawnmowing business. This year, i have made about 850 dollars, which i know isnt too good, but i plan to expand a lot. I am a car nut as well (young person and car nut dont go well). This is how I want my life to pan out. My first car will be likely something very cheap, cheap insurance also. For my second car, I figured i could MAYBE afford something around 20-40k. That is if i find a good job and continue on with the lawnmowing business. Finally, around age 35-40, I would like to purchase the car of my dreams, whatever it may be at that moment (I could purchase some of this with trade in from my previous car). Right now it is a Nissan GTR, but im 15 and that will most likely stop production. I know cars like its my job, all i do on my laptop is look up cars, whether its videos, or performance data. I know the performance data for every sportscar in the world. Im not dreaming here, and im also not the kind of person who just says "im going to get a nice car when Im older because im going to be rich". I want to take my cars to shows. and meet other people with the same passion as me. My question is, will I be able to achieve this if I go on with lawnmowing? Please only real answers, not simply "you can get from A-B in a 2000 dollar car." I have sleepless nights worrying if later in my life i will get these kinds of cars, and need some help from someone who knows money a little bit more than i do. Is my lawnmowing business enough to buy a first car and possibly a down payment on the second car?
Thanks for taking your time to read, and every reply will be appreciated.
Eric

No. Absolutely not. It's not even close to a good enough plan. You will never come up with that kind of money cutting grass. Furthermore, if you are a 25 year old man and still cutting grass to make a living you won't even have enough money to eat, pay rent, or anything else.

Now if you were to turn that into a full fledged landscaping business, that's a different story. Now we're talking. If you learned landscaping the way you learn cars, you could probably be very successful provided you also learn how to run a business.

I also noticed that in none of your posts, at 15 years old, do you mention anything about education. If you plan on making the kind of money that affords you the kind of life that includes $80k car purchases, you are going to have to learn something and get a real job or start a real business.

Right now your only focus is car, car, car, and you aren't thinking clearly about the rest of your life when you aren't driving the car or how you will afford anything else besides the car. How will you live?

If your love of cars is as strong as you say, try getting work in that industry and educating yourself in it. Maybe that's where you can find your business or career.
But I'm here to tell you, you will not have an $80k car life cutting grass, or merely being a worker with no education. Why do I feel like your car plan assumes that you'll still be living with your parents well into adulthood?

If you listen to nothing else I say here, because you think I'm a dream killer, listen to that. Right now all you have a dreams. Not goals. Without a realistic plan and execution of that plan they will never be anything more than that. You need to come up with a life plan of where you are headed and what kind of career you will have that affords you the luxuries that you want. Not just a car plan.

[Freelancier]

You need to come up with a life plan of where you are headed and what kind of career you will have that affords you the luxuries that you want.My view is that at age 15, you probably don't need to have a long-term plan so much as try not do something to prevent any future plan you might eventually have. In other words, don't decide to skip school because getting an education is not part of your current plan. The greatest predictor of future unemployment and poverty is the lack of an education (the other is having kids before you can afford them). See here: Earnings and unemployment rates by educational attainment (http://www.bls.gov/emp/ep_chart_001.htm) That's not to say that it's always true, but it's true enough that you should worry about not screwing it up.

Wanting to do something you do well is a good thing, but at this point you potentially have 50 years of income production ahead of you before retirement and the most important thing you will find out too late is that bad decisions now can seriously reduce your income later when it's important that you earn a lot.

[Brian Altenhofel]

You will never come up with that kind of money cutting grass. Furthermore, if you are a 25 year old man and still cutting grass to make a living you won't even have enough money to eat, pay rent, or anything else.

As long as the target market isn't low-mid income residential, I disagree.

Several people around my area make a pretty good living mowing just oil/gas well sites. Same thing with some who do high-income residential properties and commercial properties.

[Harold Mansfield]

As long as the target market isn't low-mid income residential, I disagree.

Several people around my area make a pretty good living mowing just oil/gas well sites. Same thing with some who do high-income residential properties and commercial properties.
But it sounds like they are running landscaping businesses, maybe even some kind of property management, and have contracts. That's not just a summer job cutting grass.
I agree, if you turn it into a business and not just a kid knocking on your neighbor's doors on Saturday morning, you could do something.

[erichtecreator]

I agree that i am getting to ahead of myself. But i forgot to include that i plan on getting a legitimate job. I was thinking about something engineering, or the better choice for me being something that has to do with sportscars. If anyone knows of any good paying jobs that have to do with sportscars im all open to them. The lawnmowing was just a side job, something to maybe pay for some cheap utilities (Gas,Food). Trust me, im trying to slow myself down, but my love of cars are stopping me.
Eric

[Wozcreative]

To be honest you are probably too young to really know how much life costs. I don't hear anything about:

- What you'll be doing about education
- How long you plan to live with your family
- Wether or not you plan to buy property or just rent
- Where you will live with your family until your 30 - 35 (This makes a difference on cost of living)
- If you have any siblings to help pay for ailing/aging parents (Oh boy is this a money vacuum!)
- No mention of how you plan to grow your business and a business plan
- No mention on wether or not you plan to have a family (wife, kids, how many?)—Kids generally cost AT LEAST $20,000 in the first year of their life.
- Wether or not your spouse is high maintenance (women especially always cost a TON to maintain with salons, hair salons,... and if you have girls too.. good luck!)—I alone spend over $200 a month on skin care products (actually due to a medical condition, but if I was a boy I could do without the products).
- No mention on wether or not your wife will be working (and if so, do you plan to find someone who is highly educated or just works minimum wage?)
- Have you sat down with an accountant to figure out how much your business would have to make for you to be able to pay yourself, make a living, pay your employees, pay taxes, contribute to your retirement and then after all that is said and done.. how much you'd have left over to dump into a depleting hobby like cars? It will be much more expensive for someone who isn't in the car industry for business.
- Also wether or not you have a big enough family to help you out if you get into a financial slump/emergency. Most people don't have this luxury.

You just can't plan like that, all you should be planning is not your wants but what you need to do. Forget wanting cars, you need the money BEFORE you get cars.. how do you get the money? You work your ass off and figure out what works to get you the most by educating yourself!

[Harold Mansfield]

I agree that i am getting to ahead of myself. But i forgot to include that i plan on getting a legitimate job. I was thinking about something engineering, or the better choice for me being something that has to do with sportscars. If anyone knows of any good paying jobs that have to do with sportscars im all open to them. The lawnmowing was just a side job, something to maybe pay for some cheap utilities (Gas,Food). Trust me, im trying to slow myself down, but my love of cars are stopping me.
Eric

Go to college kid. Learn engineering. Get a degree. Meet new people with new ideas. Have fun. Explore new things. Learn about other opportunities. Discover the world.
You may find that there are other things that you are interested in that you can combine with your love of cars, or something completely different. The odds that you will get to where you want to be by just working some kind of job fresh out of high school are pretty slim.

No one is going to hire a kid who has nothing to offer and no education just because he loves cars for anything other than sweeping up a garage or drying cars at a car wash. Sure, you could move up with hard work and learning the ropes, but you won't be getting $80k cars taking the long road with no education and no skills until you're too old to enjoy them.

Sounds like you have the kind of parents that will help you achieve your goals. Don't squander the opportunity to put yourself in position to be what you want in life other than just trying to buy a car. In the grand scheme of life that is a very low goal that isn't even well thought out. You have to achieve other things in order to afford the luxuries that you want.

Adulthood is not like being 15 where you can spend all of your money on you and everything else is taken care of by someone else. When you are the adult, there is no one else.

You've only lived a very small portion of your life. In all honesty, the good stuff hasn't even started yet. If you want to have adult dreams, then you need to start thinking like an adult and where you want to be when you are there. Legally, that's in 3 years. Where do you want to be? Getting an engineering degree? Or drying other people's cars?

[Brian Altenhofel]

If anyone knows of any good paying jobs that have to do with sportscars im all open to them.

Service center technician. The high-end places (BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc.) tend to pay very well. Plus, depending on your insurability, you could get the opportunity to drive a ton of different sports cars and experience them for yourself.

As for education, know what field you want to go into and whether or not that field needs a degree. If it doesn't need a degree, don't waste your money.

[Harold Mansfield]

C'mon Brian. You're telling a 15 year old kid not to get an education? Education is going to be the key to your earning potential, ESPECIALLY if you are going to be working for other people. The odds that anyone in this day and age will work the same job for their entire work life is slim. The more you know, the more you can roll with the punches, move up, maybe even become a VP or CEO. You aren't doing that without an education. Education is more opportunities, not less.

Yes, it is possible to work hard and take the long road, with luck and do it. But with education it is probable. Competition is steep out there. You need to amass all of the tools available to you to give yourself the best chance.

The days of coming out of high school and working at Ford for 30 years are over.

None of us are in business for ourselves without education. I am not in business for myself with the skills I learned in high school. High school teaches you nothing about the real world, real life, and real business. You need more than that today.

[Wozcreative]

I agree with Harold. Without college and then real-world experience after college, I would not have my own business.

[Brian Altenhofel]

A college degree is not the only source of education. There are also vocational schools, OJT, independent certifications, etc.

Some fields don't require that piece of paper. Web development (my particular field) is definitely one. It can actually be an anchor in this industry between the stereotypes and the likely obligations.

[Wozcreative]

A college degree is not the only source of education. There are also vocational schools, OJT, independent certifications, etc.

Some fields don't require that piece of paper. Web development (my particular field) is definitely one. It can actually be an anchor in this industry between the stereotypes and the likely obligations.


College, universities, or whatever degree.. but I think we all agree that "some type" of education is a must before you think about starting a business! (I'd also include experience as well... just going to school is not enough).

[Harold Mansfield]

A college degree is not the only source of education. There are also vocational schools, OJT, independent certifications, etc.

Some fields don't require that piece of paper. Web development (my particular field) is definitely one. It can actually be an anchor in this industry between the stereotypes and the likely obligations.

True. All definitely true. But you work for yourself. Out in the real world when you are competing with others for jobs and position, the guy with the education AND the experience is going to beat the guy with just the experience most times, and get better pay.

We're not just talking about being able to do the job, we're talking about making money. People with education generally make more than people without it in the corporate world. That's just how it is. Men make more than women, and education makes more than experience. It's not fair, but it's real life and that's how you need to make your decisions. Based on what is today, not what someone else may have done 20 years ago, or nothing but a 'can do' attitude.

There's always an exception, but if you don't have to limit yourself hoping to be one of the exceptions, why would you? This kid has parents willing to pay for him to get both and enter the world with all of the tools. Why not take advantage of it? Why choose to do it the hard way? Just to make a point?

[Harold Mansfield]

Look kid (I say that with no disrespect), the bottom line is if you want a life of $80k+ cars you need to be smart, driven, and educated in whatever field you go into, or business you start. You have to be better than most. You need to be at the top of your game. Period.

Whatever it takes for you to do that or get there you need to do it, or that car, and every other car, nice house, clothes, money in the bank, retirement, vacations, traveling to car shows, and all of the other nice things of adult life will just be a dream and the next thing you know you'll be 55 years old driving a 20 year old sports car that took you 20 years of working menial jobs to save up for, talking about what could have been, or "If only I had...".

You aren't going to get there with just street smarts and will, nor do the odds say that you will get lucky. Loving cars is great. Plenty of people love cars. Bid Deal. But very few are driving the one they really want or working in the industry.

You need to be good at something that pays well because stuff costs money.

Don't stress yourself out right now. Enjoy having no bills and no responsibility as long as you can. This time that you're in right now goes slow. Enjoy it. Once you hit the real world, it goes fast. When you do think about where you want to be, be realistic about it. You're going to have to put in the work, the time, and the patience to get there. Many things will not go as planned and you'll have to adjust and stick and move.

But once you sacrifice and get there, it's totally worth it. How young you'll be when you arrive depends on how smart your decisions are over the next 4-6+ years. If you can think further out than just instant gratification, you may do alright.

[Brian Altenhofel]

True. All definitely true. But you work for yourself. Out in the real world when you are competing with others for jobs and position, the guy with the education AND the experience is going to beat the guy with just the experience most times, and get better pay.

How is being self-employed not "the real world"?

Many of the highest paid people in my field have no formal education.


We're not just talking about being able to do the job, we're talking about making money. People with education generally make more than people without it in the corporate world. That's just how it is. Men make more than women, and education makes more than experience. It's not fair, but it's real life and that's how you need to make your decisions. Based on what is today, not what someone else may have done 20 years ago, or nothing but a 'can do' attitude.

And the net gain would be? Most (if not all) salary studies leave out education costs, in addition to not controlling for industry bias. A few years ago, I looked at going to college to get a formal education in either my field or in law (my lawyer buddies are still trying to get me to do that one). For the first one, the costs weren't worth the bump in average earnings. For the second one, the break-even was only if I were to land a job near or above the second salary peak.


There's always an exception, but if you don't have to limit yourself hoping to be one of the exceptions, why would you? This kid has parents willing to pay for him to get both and enter the world with all of the tools. Why not take advantage of it? Why choose to do it the hard way? Just to make a point?

I haven't seen where he said his parents will pay his way.

And like I said, it depends on what he decides he wants to do. But he should make sure the benefits are actually there. If he wants to do engineering, he should get an engineering degree (in the correct field of engineering). If he'd rather do high-end car sales, there's really no degree that can help you there.

Of course, being able to sell yourself is the key to making more whether or not you have an education.

[Harold Mansfield]

How is being self-employed not "the real world"?


I mean as it pertains to this kid now, and him talking about working for people.

As the business owner YOU aren't limited by competing for a promotion,or having to play office politics and sucking up, or waiting for decisions to be made. Plain and simple life is different when you are the one running things, rather than working for someone else who runs things.

And out in that world, there are more people that want your job, your salary, your office, and your position than there are people than you have to deal with now. Basic math. More people are workers than business owners.

So when I say that, I mean that you, or we...none of us here...have to go through that BS to get ahead. We make our own decisions.
That's a really big difference.




I haven't seen where he said his parents will pay his way.

And like I said, it depends on what he decides he wants to do. But he should make sure the benefits are actually there. If he wants to do engineering, he should get an engineering degree (in the correct field of engineering). If he'd rather do high-end car sales, there's really no degree that can help you there.

Of course, being able to sell yourself is the key to making more whether or not you have an education.

That's you. This kid needs to find his own path and in an economy that values education, telling him not to get one is not being realistic.

You're talking possibilities and I'm talking probabilities. The ability to sell yourself is universal. Put 2 people who can both equally sell themselves well in an interview and I'll put my money on the one with the degree every time. It's not personal. Companies are hiring less people to do more, move up and stay longer. There aren't 20 spots open at a time now. It's not 10-20 years ago anymore. You need to be armed and ready to compete or you're going to keep losing to the better candidate with more to offer in the company's eyes. Personality only takes you so far. Credentials go a long way and open a lot more doors, even if you suck.

You already alluded to how tough it is out there. It's not better looking for work with no education.

Yeah, sales is different. But I heard engineering.


We aren't 15 anymore Brian. He likely can't do it the same way we did, especially if he's talking about working FOR someone.

No one has ever been worse off because they were smarter.

[Brian Altenhofel]

...

I never said not to get an education. I said to be smart about educational choices by researching the field first and determining whether or not a particular course of education is worth it. Some fields are almost purely do-ocracies. Some are meritocracies. And even some are built on nepotism.

[Harold Mansfield]

That is true. You can waste a lot of money getting a degree that no one needs nor is hiring for. Just ask any Liberal Arts major.
You can't go wrong with most technology or medical. Engineering is a good choice, I think.

[erichtecreator]

You seem like a good person to talk to about this subject...Let me just tell you a bit about my background... My parents arent very rich, in fact one of them doesnt even work. Me on the other hand, want to be like my uncle who is very hardworking and achieved his goal by buying a 90k car and a 70k truck. He works as a honda techncian. At ages 7-10, i wanted my first car to be that 90k car. Ive come a long way, and have understood that life is becoming more difficult as it goes. As a 15 year old, all ive been thinking about was cars cars cars but now, ive realized theres more to life than a car. Dont get me wrong, i will still be thinking cars cars cars, but at a slower pace than currently. Im thinking more along the lines of a job to get me there. I love sportscars, more than anything in the world, so that is a starting point in finding the right job. I am thinking of taking Brians advice, and being a technician for a high end dealership. Preferrably porsche primarily because theres nothing better in upstate new york. ive seen the median of that salary to come out to be about 90k. On a side note, I think i am thinking a lot farther than a normal 15 year old would be. That being said, i would like advice from someone who has went through this. Ive said this before, the cars i want are not to get girls, or anything like that. This is becoming to be kind of a tough time for me, because the more and more i think im going to succeed, the more i will become upset at a later age becuase i dont succeed. But i will never give up, no matter what hurdles stand in my path. That kind of sounds normal for a 15 year old who doesnt know a lot, but ive researched A LOT about buying expensive things, and keeping up with your dreams. One guy specifically, Rob Dahm, a youtuber with a 7 year old dream of buying a lamborghini diablo, achieved it by starting a computer business, is a person i look up to. I plan on achieving these dreams by obviously getting an education. I will be going in to college, hopefully knowing what i want to be, and getting the correct degree for that. Is it a good idea to have 2 jobs? Maybe one full time and one small part time? Anything to make some extra cash would be good to me in my eyes. Any constructive critism about my thinking, and any way to repair it would be greatly appreciated.
Eric
(P.S. Is there any way i could message you privately? It may be an easier experience)

[Harold Mansfield]

Now you're sounding like a mature teenager. Keep that attitude and you'll be OK. Don't let the set backs get you down. You're going to have them. Everyone does. Everyone. And they'll be a surprise every single damn time. Go through enough, and you'll start seeing some of them coming and learn how to prepare or avoid them all together.

It's how you handle them, adjust, and move on that separates the go getters from the worker bees who need to be told what to do or they'd never get up in the morning to go to work.

By the way, which one of us are you speaking to?

[billbenson]

Lets not forget that college is part of a maturing process for a lot of kids. At 18 you usually haven't figured out what you want to do. When I was in engineering school I never figured I'd be selling high dollar construction equipment online. I thought I'd be an electronics engineer.

Frequently higher education is the first time someone needs to live without mommy and daddy. They deal with people they don't know whether they like it or not. They have peer pressure both from students and teachers. They have responsibility for keeping their grades, showing up for class, doing homework.

All of this helps them go out in the world somewhat prepared and disciplined.

[Harold Mansfield]

Very good point. I can't imagine how different I would be today if I had stopped at high school. College and the Military is when I really started learning about life, experiencing new things. Learned about hard work. Team work. Taking responsibilities. It's when my brain became alive. College is very mentally stimulating. It can really open the world up to you in a way that helps you discover all that is possible.

It also helps being around different kinds of people and getting to know them so that it's easier for you to build relationships later in the corporate world.

[erichtecreator]

Harold Mansfield i was talking to. I guess time will tell how i come out to be later in my life, like how good my grades are, what college i go to, etc. Just curious, what do you do? If your think what your doing is successful, maybe share some tips? Im always open to try new things, while im young at least, so if something doesnt work, I can find out whats right for me, and have more time to research, startup, and hopefully grow it.

Also, I was definately planning on going to college. The problem is, for what? I like sportscars A TON...And getting a job involving one would make my overall life much better in my eyes.

Eric

[Harold Mansfield]

I build websites and do web consulting now. But that's not what I started out doing. I spent my 20's and 30's working in and running bars and night clubs because that's what I loved at the time, but I out grew it and never really wanted to make a career out of it anyway. I stayed far too long.

It wasn't until later that I discovered my love for the web and marketing. The tools and courses available to you now, I didn't have. There was no internet when I grew up. Sounds like the stone age, but it wasn't that long ago. I wish I had been exposed to computers and marketing while I was in high school or college..I may have taken a different path from the beginning.

I can't give you any career advice because honestly between now and finishing high school and hopefully college you are going to go through so many experiences and self discovery that your mind is likely to change or at least fine tune and expand to consider other paths. You love cars, but you may decide that you're also interested in Law and want to be an agent for NASCAR drivers, or own a race team one day, or be in the legal department for GM, or BMW. Or design concept cars. Or you may want to be on a pit grew or learn how to repair Lamborghini's..or own a Lamborghini dealership. The sky is really the limit right now, more than any other time in your life.

Use the time to have some fun, grow up, but keep your mind open to all possibilities. By your Junior year you may start getting some idea of what you want to go to college to learn about, or least investigate further as a career. Definitely by mid senior year. You have to go to college with a plan, even if you change or adjust it. I didn't and I screwed it up because I had no direction. I had to go back and do it again...wasting all kinds of time (and money) that I could have been embarking on a real career.

That's probably the best advice I can give right now. If higher education is what you want, right now is the time to explore career options. Talk to your school counselors, parents, people in the industry that you are interested in. Friends and relatives that went to college. You have nothing but free time, no responsibilities, and no pressures for the next 2-3 years.

Use it to explore and discover who you want to be, what you want to do, and where you want to go in life.

[erichtecreator]

Agreed entirely. I honestly am not sure why i am thinking about this at such a young age, hopefully that means im on the right track for when i get older. My love of cars has overtaken me, and infected my life with doubt. Im now learning to acknowledge the doubt, and use it to my advantage to get myself to find a new way to make money and eventually get the car of my choice. I hope i dont sound like im talking too much about cars to derail the forum, but my ultimate goal in life would be to start my own business and have myself as a boss. Im trying to figure out a backup if that fails, hense the porsche technician job. Web design also seems like a good field to go into. But getting yourself known may be a problem. Scoring a porsche technician job would be pretty hard. All of these ideas have there downsides, but one of them I have to pick. I guess thats my job between now, and when im out of college.

[Harold Mansfield]

Agreed entirely. I honestly am not sure why i am thinking about this at such a young age, hopefully that means im on the right track for when i get older. My love of cars has overtaken me, and infected my life with doubt. Im now learning to acknowledge the doubt, and use it to my advantage to get myself to find a new way to make money and eventually get the car of my choice. I hope i dont sound like im talking too much about cars to derail the forum, but my ultimate goal in life would be to start my own business and have myself as a boss. Im trying to figure out a backup if that fails, hense the porsche technician job. Web design also seems like a good field to go into. But getting yourself known may be a problem. Scoring a porsche technician job would be pretty hard. All of these ideas have there downsides, but one of them I have to pick. I guess thats my job between now, and when im out of college.
You're thinking about it because you're growing up and learning what kind of adult you want to be. It's great that you have good role models to look to. Embrace that and learn from them. Carry that spirit of being around positive people forever. And I mean forever. Positive people doing positive things, keep you motivated to do the same and will turn you on to more possibilities and opportunities.

Self doubt is part of growing up because you're still discovering yourself and the world. It never goes away but you get better at it. Every single person has doubts. If you don't you're crazy. Doubts mean that you are seeing things clearly, understand the risk, and accept the possibility that it may not work. Most people never get over the doubt nor have the courage take a chance. For some the possibility of failure is crippling.

The people that do accept the doubt, learn from mistakes, prepare to overcome and still jump off the cliff and take the risk are the go getters, entrepreneurs, leaders, inventors, and captains of industry in this world.

There is no blueprint that lays everything out for you. That if you follow 'this path' things will work out exactly like this. It's all training and preparation to take one risk after another to reach your goals, accomplish your mission or get to the next level. The better trained you are the more times you'll be successful when meeting those challenges. It's all a risk, or better yet, a leap of faith...except that faith is in yourself.

I'm going to stop now because I'm starting to sound like a big cliche' thesaurus.

[Fulcrum]

I'm going to recommend that the OP check out WeldingWeb™ - Welding forum for pros and enthusiasts (http://www.weldingweb.com/). Though specifically for general welding, there are many members there that work on high end vehicle (street) performance as well as race cars (one member does a fair bit of Baja runners).

You could also try contacting someone from the Empire State Pullers (http://www.empirestatepullers.com/) (high performance truck and tractor pulling) and try to get on one of their pit teams.