My New Job, from hobby to profession

[Gold Street Customs]

Well its an offer. four days a week, 25 miles away, probably cost $40 a week in gas to get there, and after taxes I will make less than my unemployment. The good side is I would be working at a bike shop wrenching/ building the rental bikes to take to the coast, hopefully I can get him to pay better than $9.50 an hour and possibly get 5 days a week, so I am at a tough spot with trying to make a living doing this, I also talked with him a while back about renting vintage bikes in my little town and using his insurance, I figure I will work at it a few days to show what I can do and possibly get some more money, what is the average bike mechanic wage....in your area ?

 

[CCR]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

Just went up to $10.50 in Illinois ... minimum wage.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

I'm old and retired , but they always told me you had to get on the bus before you could find a seat. :roll:

 

[Vipon]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

UncleStretch,, Never heard it put that way. but it sums it up perfectly.

 

[jerrykr]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

It seems like it's easier to get a job when you already have a job.
I bet you will move up or move on quickly.

Best of luck to you!

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

Another plus is they don't open till 9:00 , so that gives me time to apply elseware if it don't work out, I am also pursuing a dream job , outside sales rep for Fleetpride, I haven't given up on that one yet !! :wink:

 

[yoothgeye]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

Don't do the math, do the job. :mrgreen:

When I first got out a college I spent all my time working towards one job that I was told would be $30k a year. When they finally offered me the job it was $21.5k a year. The job was 60 miles away (yes, that's 120 miles a day). I did it for a while, then I did the math, subtracted taxes, insurance, benefits, gas money, car upkeep, and I came out to about $9000 a year. I was also a newly wed and that was 10 hours a week in driving, away from my wife.

I left the job to find one... BIG mistake! Was out of work for 3 months and my wife was still in grad school.

Sounds like you have an opportunity more than a paycheck.

 

[rydr1]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

Don't do the math, do the job. :mrgreen:

When I first got out a college I spent all my time working towards one job that I was told would be $30k a year. When they finally offered me the job it was $21.5k a year. The job was 60 miles away (yes, that's 120 miles a day). I did it for a while, then I did the math, subtracted taxes, insurance, benefits, gas money, car upkeep, and I came out to about $9000 a year. .

And for this reason I have not averaged out how much I truly make after making payments on my school loan :| .

 

[jerrykr]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

youth,

one other "mistake" you made, was once you resolved to quit, you should have pressed them to give you the 30K expectation that they set for you. (IF you wanted to keep the job,--- you already gained valuable knowledge of how they would likely treat you in the future). You never know, you may have left money on the table. In any case, that attempt could not have resulted in anything worse than when you quit on your own.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

So I guess I am a professional bike builder, Its quite a different experience having every tool you can imagine at your fingertips, and I am actually learning alot , Today I built a Phat girls cruiser ( really surprised how tweeked the fork was made from the factory (it took a half hour with the fork tool to straighten) ,a SE racing BMX, Trek aluminum hardtail mt bike,another bmx bike and a flat repair. Awesome inventory of bikes and parts, The owner also has a collection of cruisers from the fifties I still need to see. I am bringing my buildoff bike to work tomorrow my boss is going to check the fork for straightness with his tools,how cool is that!!!

 

[RonK]

Glad to hear! I've been in the same (sales) business for 25 odd years now. Until a pretty life changing illness about 4 years ago, I believed in the mantra "live to work, money is KING". Today, having survived a brain tumor (cancer free for 3 years now), I no longer need to have the big title, make the most money, or be the top guy month in and month out. I work to live nowadays...I'm not saying that money doesn't make things easier sometimes, because it does, but do something you love, man!

 

[aka_locojoe]

Cool. As long as you can still make ends meet, even if you're making less than when you weren't working, I'm sure you'll be happier working and like you said your gaining knowledge, have access to the shop, make connections etc...

 

[yoothgeye]

Re: My Job Offer,,,,if it only payed better!!!

youth,

one other "mistake" you made, was once you resolved to quit, you should have pressed them to give you the 30K expectation that they set for you. (IF you wanted to keep the job,--- you already gained valuable knowledge of how they would likely treat you in the future). You never know, you may have left money on the table. In any case, that attempt could not have resulted in anything worse than when you quit on your own.

Haha, there's a little more to the story, basically I should've kept my mouth shut, I told my friend at work (who was in personnel and helped me get the job) that the commute was killing me and I was going to start looking for another job but continue to work. He told the president of the hospital and she said that if I was looking for another job I might as well leave. I was asked to resign. Knowing what I know now I should have refused to resign and been fired, then I could've had unemployment for the 5 months till I found a job.

 

[jerrykr]

first off... Gold street -- congradulations. somehow I see this ending up very good for you. hang in there, I'm pulling for you, but you are the one pulling the oar thru the water, and I admire your for that!

youth, funny that you fill in these details, I had a similiar experience once, and I should have kept my mouth shut too, only it was a peer whom I thought would not stab me in the back. I got the job and raise that I confided in him about, left on my own before being let go, and 2 weeks later, the company I left was bought by a bigger one, which meant I would have been on the let go list. the Lord works in some strange ways at times.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

i think the biggest thing is my back holding up, after standing all day it catches up with ya, I need to get a back brace deal, my boss said to keep the receipt and he will pay me for it, built a Mirra Detroit BMX today, an SE Lil Ripper (cool little 16" BMX) ,Trek 24" mt bike,Trek 16" kids bike, and a 12" Trek Princess something or other... all i know it was pink with bows on the seat.
So basicly when the bike comes out of the box the first thing to find is the seatpost, so you can install and put the bike on the stand, remove all packaging,check the rear wheel to make sure its true, depending on the bike either remove the rear wheel to disassemble the coaster to add grease or grease the brake cables and then adjust the rear and toe in the pads, grease all threads from the stem bolts to the cage bolts in the frame,take the front wheel true if needed, loosen it up on the vise and add grease to both bearing cages. check the crank for how tight it is, and adjust as needed. Most of the new style BMX don't have nothing to call a seat post, so there is an assortment of posts hanging on the wall to use so it can be mounted to the bike stand, one of the last things is to air up tires, install pedals ( I also learned that the pedals with lines cast in the pedal by the threads are the left pedal and the smooth ones are the right),install and cut kickstand if needed, and then testdrive, thats it in a nutshell , open up another one :wink:

 

[yoothgeye]

Sounds awesome... much cleaner sounding than the bikes I work on.

I never realized the ribbing on the pedal signified anything.

so... they throw anything good away? :wink:

 

[8ball]

Most of the new style BMX don't have nothing to call a seat post, so there is an assortment of posts hanging on the wall to use so it can be mounted to the bike stand

I have been grabbing my bikes with the stand clamp on the seat tube (not the post), with a rag to protect the bike. The following is most likely a dumb question... but you clamp it on the seat post to protect the paint? I don't want to derail this thread, but do most builders clamp their work on the seat post?

Thanks, 8

 

[jerrykr]

the LBS shops that I have been in generally mark the seat post adjustment, raise the seat post and use the seat post to clamp into the bike work stand. sometimes they have to remove or adjust reflectors and other accessories attached to the seat post by the owner. Afterwards they put the seat post back down to where the owner had it. Just my observations.

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Most of the new style BMX don't have nothing to call a seat post, so there is an assortment of posts hanging on the wall to use so it can be mounted to the bike stand

I have been grabbing my bikes with the stand clamp on the seat tube (not the post), with a rag to protect the bike. The following is most likely a dumb question... but you clamp it on the seat post to protect the paint? I don't want to derail this thread, but do most builders clamp their work on the seat post?

Thanks, 8

Alot of the new frames don't have much of a seat tube to clamp on to, also the brake cable gets in the way,

 

[Wildcat]

I bought a new Diamondback hybrid (700c) a few years back and noticed my back wheel went out of true right away. Someone said they didn't "release the wheels" when they put it together. I never heard of that, what is that?