What to do? Solid advice only please.

[WW_RANGER_X]

This could get moved if it has to, but I’m really in a pickle in life right now. This is going to be a long drawn out post so if you don’t want to stick around I don’t blame you (CSB). Here it goes…

I like my day job, I did love it at one point but not so much anymore. Six years in. A quick description of what I do at said day job; I’m a parts manager/service writer/mechanic at probably one of the most successful shops here in Visalia Ca. My specific position focuses on trailers and RVs. I am a one man band. I set up full services on trailer axles/suspension, all the way up to flat tow and
Supplemental braking systems and everything in between. With that said, a handful of members on here know I’ve been servicing off road shocks after hours for over 10 years. If you’re in the Central Valley, I’ve been the guy. I’m not a tuner but I can make a shock look and work pretty good. The problem is, I’m getting TIRED and stressed. I dont think I can juggle both jobs together much longer. I’m up at 5am and get in bed around midnight to 1am almost every night during the week. It’s putting a toll on my body and the relationship with my family. Something has to give. I feel I can thrive doing shocks full time, it’s just scary as fuck thanking about doing it. I have 9 years left on my mortgage, 2 years left on the Raptor, I pay for my own insurance (shitty covered CA) and I just recently set up my own retirement. I’m 41 years old…Shock work is all under the table. I was told I can’t work out of my garage legally being an LLC/legit business due to the fact that I have a refrigerator and washer and dryer inside of it, not a legit shop. I guess what I’m asking is, is this worth trying to figure out or just quit shock work and keep slaving away at my day job?, or should I quit my day job and try like hell to do shocks full time?

There is some smart people on here. Just looking for more knowledge, advice and maybe some motivation. Thanks dudes!

 

[ntydog13]

it sounds like u need to take a historical look at side work performed over the last 6 months to a year and figure the average monthly income generated from the side work. then also if u can quantify the work turned down over that same period on a monthly scale to approximate potential total average income for the month and see if its enough to cover your montly expenses plus survive off of. if it doesnt add up to survive off of and its putting that much strain on your personal life sounds like you might need to just decline some of the side work to have a more managable work life balance

 

[DialedShockPrep]

Ahhh this is all too familiar. Very very familiar, almost identical lol.
I had other factors that influenced my decision to leave my cushy day job and pursue Dialed full time, the main one being the wages were pretty stagnant or rather falling behind the times there. Combine that with my growing 1.5-2hr commute HOME every day, the personal issues i faced at my day job being surrounded by slugs, and other things and that decision got pushed rather quickly.

Since i am highly familiar with your scenario and can give perspective from one side of the fence i jumped in, my advice is to increase your prices. I have no clue what price point you are at now but looking back, my prices were very low compared to the market average. If you have that much side work piling up where you can consider leaving your day job then your demand is high. With high demand, increase your prices. You might loose some jobs but also you will likely make more money doing less work. It could offset your work life balance enough to have more free time yet still make the same money. Yes it feels wierd as heck to charge more, however nobody batts an eye for a $750 plumbing bill that took two guys 2 hours and $100 in parts to repair.

Also, this gives you the chance to set the offset price increase aside for potential overhead down the road. You can definitely run your deal out of the garage on the downlow, it’s just difficult. I can’t remember if it is California or city regulated but one of the issues i faced is that your home business cannot increase foot or vehicle traffic through your residential area. There’s a loophole there as well but that’s the gist of it.

 

[Giant Geoff]

I would keep doing both, but just adjust everything. Used to run Giant pretty hard working 12 to 14 hour days but what I did is cut some overhead and became more efficient to knock it down to 6 hour days and I’m making the same amount of money but gain a lot of my life back. I used to want to take on every job that came my way and felt that I could do them faster, but I learned to schedule jobs further out and just increase the communication with the customers so they were happy.