Making six figures without going to college

mattmacklind wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Bartending in the right place will get you some serious money. Much harder job than it sounds, though.

I was a bartender for seven years, five full-time. Nice restaurant, good bar, strong wine menu, privately owned, 36 hours a week, great money. Highly recommended. If more people knew what good bartenders and fine dining wait staff made, they would flip.

Not an easy job by any means, but potential for $50k plus in the right position in the right bar/restaurant. Problem is....those are about 10% of the waitstaff/bartending jobs out there, and usually breaking into it is next to impossible, even if you're good, because people STAY IN THOSE JOBS.

Swank Force One wrote: Start a business. Pay yourself.

I want to do this. I'm not afraid of work and could get the financing. Problem is, what do I start?

Mtn we should work together I am in the same place. Want to start buisiness no good plan or idea

mtn wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: Start a business. Pay yourself.

I want to do this. I'm not afraid of work and could get the financing. Problem is, what do I start?

That's not something that really should be answered by anyone but yourself.

What do you like/are you good at/can you do that you can sell to people?

In reply to mtn and nocones:

Find unique/old rusty/junk cars with good glass. Harvest glass, clean and buff glass. Place in safe place until someone buys it from you. Crate it up and ship it for a small mint.

We are in the process of starting a couple businesses. The first will be Tiff's she will start cleaning windows then expand to providing full cleaning services. She even has several experienced house keepers she knows that she can hire when it gets to that point.

I am starting a business with a local established farmer. Basically he is fronting the money and I am the brains on getting things to work. We are setting up monitoring systems for water usage for in fields. This data is recorded electronically then transmitted to a computer I setup where it can be made into graphs or transferred into government report forms with a few clicks of the mouse. We live in a fairly dry area so water usage is a big thing around here for farmers. Setting up the test bed on his property this year then we will show the systems to others and get them online before the spring.

Eventually I will get my gun business going. Just gotta make some money first to get things started.

My buddy is a pipefitter - union and works the Chicago market. It takes about 5 years of apprenticing and another couple of years on the job to get a foreman-level gig. All the work is temporary - so while on the job you work for a company, when the job is over, you go sell yourself for the next gig. The pay is around $45-48 an hour. If you string enough hours and OT together you can break 100k. Then again, if you take a vacation, you won't have a job when you return, so you go out and rustle up the next gig. Working conditions are often rough - think of laying in an open ditch in Chicago in February, somewhat dangerous and he probably has a shorter life expectancy than a gig with better conditions. Non-union counterparts in other markets make 1/2 to 2/3 of his earnings. Mostly it is a welding job.

nocones wrote: Mtn we should work together I am in the same place. Want to start buisiness no good plan or idea

mtn wrote: I want to do this. I'm not afraid of work and could get the financing. Problem is, what do I start?

How about a LBGT friendly Chick Fil a franchise somewhere in Cali?

I read this whole thread to say pipefitter/steamfitter only to get beaten out by oldtin.

Aircraft mechanics can make good money without any education. Then you can get your A&P license and bust out the rake. A certain large airplane company in the NW pays its mechanics $33 an hour after 6 years on the job. Plus usually you can grab as much overtime as you want. The employees in Carolina do not tend to get the same wages.

In my opinion, the key ingredients to success are smarts enough to recognize an opportunity when it comes your way and enough drive to capitalize on it.

There are a lot of people who will work hard at anything whether it's getting them somewhere or not and there are a lot of people who will not put enough effort into a golden opportunity laying in their laps. Put the two together though and people succeed with or without a leg up.

The guy who's minions rule the lawns and gardens of my suburbia went to high school with me and then started cutting grass. He is worth millions now because he didn't stop there. He built a lawn mowing empire with it's own green houses, construction crew and pool service. One of the other guys that graduated with us went to university with me and became an ME. He works as a heavy equipment operator and runs the construction crew for him. He is doing ok too.

School is good if you can make it into an opportunity and a waste of money if you can't.

I'd like to point out that you don't need to make six figures to live well.

Many non-degree labor jobs have an older workforce that has settled down, bought houses and vehicles cash, had kids, paid for kids to go to college so they wouldn't be so beat up by the time they are in their 50's.

I think much of this came from the idea that my parents (born in the 50's) saw white collar workers as having the good life. All the pay without the hard work.

Today, there is a shift. White collar workers live in cubicles, struggling to stay off internet forums and social media, fearing the next round of layoffs as the company strives for more efficient outsourcing solutions. They've got student loan debt, housing debt, vehicular debt, and skills that are described in acronyms. When someone asks me what I do, I say "I do mapping, kinda like a drafter." 99% of hiring managers out there would think I'm useless, because they don't use my acronym laden technology. The white collar worker is chained to his debt. He can talk his way into any job, but that job may not pay the bills.

At the same time, I see many blue-collar guys who struggle to stay with the techno-times. Especially older guys who can barely send an email. Many of these guys are also specialists. If they get laid off, the next job is in the county, state, or country over. These guys are chained to their skills. That can either be a good or bad thing, depending on the economy.

I still consider myself the "next generation". I'm in my late 20's, I work a professional/technical job, and I still need more extensive and diverse training and experience. Unfortunately, very similar to my blue-collar peers, I combine my further increasing debt with my further increasing specialization. I'm desperately trying to diversify my skills as cheaply as possible.

I don't regret college, but I could have taken far more useful courses in technology and been further ahead now.

Of all the useless E36 M3 I've dumped money on, two semesters of college ranks pretty high on the list. I'm certainly not going to dissuade people from going to school, but I would certainly advise people to research the likelihood that they'll find a high-paying job in their field, and then do 5 minutes worth of pencil-to-paper to figure out if a degree in said field is worth what the cost.

For someone intending to own their own business, I'd absolutely say that ten times out of nine, $100k put toward startup is a better value than $100k in business school.

My $.02. YMMV.

nocones wrote: I'll tell you 10 years out of high school the BSME plan most definitely does not produce a 6 figure income.

it took me a BSME and 20 years of industry experience to brush the six-figure line. perhaps stacking an MBA on top of the BSME might have gotten me there sooner. it also depends where you live. friends with similar education and experience make 30% more in the BaltoWash area, and close to 100% more in SoCal.

Swank Force One wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: For the record, i'm not talking anything so bad as giving out rub 'n' tugs on a cruise ship.

That pays more than $100K

Need strong wrists though.

doesn't pay as well as giving out slurp 'n' jerks, but i hear that job kinda sucks.

AngryCorvair wrote:

Swank Force One wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote:

Swank Force One wrote: For the record, i'm not talking anything so bad as giving out rub 'n' tugs on a cruise ship.

That pays more than $100K

Need strong wrists though.

doesn't pay as well as giving out slurp 'n' jerks, but i hear that job kinda sucks.

Think of the strong and chiseled jaw line you'd end up with, though. Ripe for a job as an Abercrombie model.

The juice may very well be worth the squeeze.

nderwater wrote:

calteg wrote: Master Electrician.

Six-figure master electricians are the exception, not the rule, and it takes lots of years to get to that point. Several years of $20K/yr apprentice grind to become a journeyman (if you can even get work!), before a slow salary build up begins from there. Unless you're a small business owner or working for a defense contractor, don't expect electrical work to take you into the six-figures.

gotta get to the point of having your own name on the side of the truck, that's for sure. like denny crabill told me about building one of the sick mongrel motorsports challenge cars, "first you plan the work. then you work the plan." cuz you ain't gonna get there on luck.

In my opinion, the key ingredients to success are smarts enough to recognize an opportunity when it comes your way and enough drive to capitalize on it.

This. Big time. And capitalizing on these opportunities often requires a little capital. So while your friends are partying at the bar every weekend and buying $20,000 cars, you'd be wise to stack any tiny bit of cash you can...and turn those little stacks into larger ones whenever the opportunity presents itself.

Don't listen to the people who tell you it can't be done. I'm not rolling in the dough or anything, but I SACRIFICED the first 15 or so years of my working life; saving money. No vacations. No cars over $2k. Going out to dinner a maximum of twice a year or so, so that I can do those things now. It's worth it.

My room-mates in Gainesville bagged on me constantly for eating beans and rice and never going out to the bars with them. Both accumulated over $100k in debt. 15 years later, one (a "wildlife ecology" major) works as a pastry chef. The other (nursing degree or something?) is a full-time stay at home mom...not that there's anything wrong with that. Wife's best friend spent 4 years and god knows how much in student loans at Massage Therapy school in Colorado. Personally, I think she just wanted to move to Colorado, and the school was an excuse. She works as a paper-pusher at a doctor's office for barely more than minimum wage during the day, and delivers pizzas for Dominoes at night. Mom and Dad pay her car payment on her 2000-something Nissan Murano (which she constantly complains about) and she lives in her parents old house rent-free. She is still drowning in debt...and going back to school for accounting, which may or may not be a good thing.

Datsun1500 wrote:

Grizz wrote: I'd like to point out that you don't need to make six figures to live well.

Seven figures is easier?

Lol.

Nobody is making $100k working half-assed without a degree. If you want $100k without a degree in a reasonable amount of time, you get creative, and you work your fingers to the bone.

My name is JThw8, not nobody ;)

I'll admit I'm the exception to the rule, but I put in 8 hours a day, no more, often less, surfing a cubicle and its accompanying internet. I put forth a solid effort but I'm not killing myself and my fingers are not to the bone. I will agree with the getting creative part though.

The key (for me anyway) was to get a skill in something that no college is teaching anyway so the degree doesn't matter, and that very few people do so you are always in demand. My office doesn't always have enough work to keep me busy but they need to keep me around for the times that they do.

On the flip side I live and work in NJ, pay scales are higher here because the cost of living is stupid. I'd make less doing what I do but probably live better in many other parts of the country. But I actually like the company I work for and aside from a nice pay scale the benefits package is great. Really so many people focus on 6 figures they neglect the benefits a job can provide. I'd gladly take a pay cut to maintain the benefit levels I receive at this company.

JThw8 wrote:

Nobody is making $100k working half-assed without a degree. If you want $100k without a degree in a reasonable amount of time, you get creative, and you work your fingers to the bone.

My name is JThw8, not nobody ;) I'll admit I'm the exception to the rule, but I put in 8 hours a day, no more, often less, surfing a cubicle and its accompanying internet. I put forth a solid effort but I'm not killing myself and my fingers are not to the bone. I will agree with the getting creative part though. The key (for me anyway) was to get a skill in something that no college is teaching anyway so the degree doesn't matter, and that very few people do so you are always in demand. My office doesn't always have enough work to keep me busy but they need to keep me around for the times that they do.

This is me, as well. No degree, just a skillset that they seem to have needed around here for over a decade so far. Like I used to say, "I don't have a degree. I'm the guy that fixes the things that people with degrees berkely up."

JThw8 wrote: The key (for me anyway) was to get a skill in something that no college is teaching anyway so the degree doesn't matter, and that very few people do so you are always in demand.

What do you do and could someone get a job today doing it without the years of experience you have accumulated?

That's the thing. Many jobs that were previously good paying job without degrees now require a masters and engineering degree in order to replace.

One thing you can get into now is computer security AKA get a job being a hacker. You can get a job on reputation alone right now but the colleges are moving fast to "fix" that by offering degrees in the area. But there aren't too many jobs available and there are ethical problems - a lot of the jobs are working for the NSA and the companies that serve them, or worse yet foreign intelligence services with overt political involvement. Even if you're studied up like I am, building that reputation to land the cushy job is nearly a full-time job in itself.

Grizz wrote: I'd like to point out that you don't need to make six figures to live well.

I absolutely 100% agree with this. The term had more to do with oldopelguy's statement in another thread which I've seen him make before...

oldopelguy wrote: I could get any high school kid who is willing to take his or her lumps and work hard and have them making six figures in less than 10 years. All it takes is a couple of years of tech school and an apprenticeship.

I was thinking if you were frustrated with your job and wanted to start over... or if you had a child about to graduate high school, what is that path?

We hear a lot about a skills shortage, but not a lot about what to do about it, or what trades will pay the bills.

Just a heads up for the hourly rate needed: 40hrs a week and 50 weeks a year would take $50 an hour to make $100k.