Is there any money to be made in Jeeps?

[staticrevolution]

Just curious. I am in a similar situation as that Ary fellow. Graduated High school, went to a 4 year school and didn't like it and I am currently taking classes at a CC and working full time. I have been working full time living with my girlfriend(ex now) for close to a year. I am fairly ambitious and am also impatient. College has not been working out for me.

I have already gone through all the hoops associated with starting my own business and have learned a ton from that experience. I have a general knowledge of just about everything from computers(web design) to Jeeps but have NO specific training. I make enough money to live off of right now but I HATE my job.

I sold one of my cars (a honda of course) and decided to buy a welder(miller 175) and a tube bender(protools 105 which I still havent gotten yet). I have taken enough welding classes to be able to build bumpers and nerf bars and the like thinking I might be able to make some money on the side.

I have no idea what I want to do. My parents are still willing to foot the bill for school or training, but I have grown accustomed to a lazy life, paying rent going 4X4ing and spending all my extra cash on the Jeep. I guess my question is should I quit my night job and start going back to school, or is there any chance of making it on my own? I realize that college isnt for everyone but I think I just have a lack of motivation. Am I just being dumb for not staying in school? My goals are to race/prerun baja stuff and own a 4X4 shop. I can do the fabrication but I would much rather just be able to pay someone to do it for me so I can hone my driving skills. Please share any adivice, comments, suggetions or stories.

Thanks for listening to my rant,

Alan

BTW anyone in the Oregon area needing help with any fabrication let me know I am willing to help any Cherokee'ers for the price of experience.

 

[GI-John]

www.goarmy.com

www.navy.com

www.airforce.com

www.marines.com


Quit being a pansy and check them out......... Unless you're too lazy.

 

[ECKSJAY]

www.goarmy.com

Quit being a pansy and check them out......... Unless you're too lazy.

arty: Yeah baby, one hell of a life experience!!! They'll keep ya busy, that's for sure!

 

[RichP]

Ha, been there, done that with me, going thru it AGAIN with my son. First I would recommend ANYONE get a degree, does not matter what it's in, it gives you credibility and once gotten cannot be taken away, lost, expire or otherwise vanish.
I also am former military, went in the Navy in 69 because I was #3 on the draft lottery. I knew I was going, choice was did I want 3 hot meals, dry bed and a shower every day or sleep in water filled fox holes, for me the choice was simple so I beat the 'Greetings letter' and enlisted two months before my 18th birthday on a delayed entry.
The military is a very viable option, no one has better retirement benefits in so short a time, 20 years goes by fast which I know you don't believe, take it from a 52 year old, it does. Choice is do you want to go in enlisted or officer, officer makes more money, lives better. Warrant officer though, thats the best of both worlds in any of the services, they are the technical guru's pretty much and even colonels tread lightly around them
Can you make money with jeeps, maybe, there are a couple of local [NE PA] businesses that specialize in jeeps, some open boneyards with nothing but jeep parts, some make it some don't. If you go on Ebay there is some guy in OH that makes wrangler bumpers, good prices, don't know if he does a lot of them, maybe, but specializing cuts both ways. Come up with a good idea and within a week there will be 20 people copying you. It happened to me in 95, I started doing house calls eves and weekends to repair computers part time, started a new catagory in the local paper. The first week my ad ran alone, the following week there were 11 of them, sheesh, copy cats...
The best way is to become 'known' as the expert in the area you want to work in be it fabrication, suspension systems, performance, etc. Or just be a good generalist but the equipment can get very expensive.
My son is going to finish at least 2 years and hopes to get a BS in 4 THEN he plans on going into the military, wants to get into law enforcement and branch is not that big a thing though he's been around mostly Army with me being retired National Guard. I got out of the Navy after 7 years and went back to school, joined the guard to supplement my $400 a month GI bill and stayed for 17 years. Thats my view on it anyway. Good luck in whatever you decide...

 

[Safari Ary]

Just curious. I am in a similar situation as that Ary fellow. Graduated High school, went to a 4 year school and didn't like it and I am currently taking classes at a CC and working full time. I have been working full time living with my girlfriend(ex now) for close to a year. I am fairly ambitious and am also impatient. College has not been working out for me.

I have already gone through all the hoops associated with starting my own business and have learned a ton from that experience. I have a general knowledge of just about everything from computers(web design) to Jeeps but have NO specific training. I make enough money to live off of right now but I HATE my job.

I sold one of my cars (a honda of course) and decided to buy a welder(miller 175) and a tube bender(protools 105 which I still havent gotten yet). I have taken enough welding classes to be able to build bumpers and nerf bars and the like thinking I might be able to make some money on the side.

I have no idea what I want to do. My parents are still willing to foot the bill for school or training, but I have grown accustomed to a lazy life, paying rent going 4X4ing and spending all my extra cash on the Jeep. I guess my question is should I quit my night job and start going back to school, or is there any chance of making it on my own? I realize that college isnt for everyone but I think I just have a lack of motivation. Am I just being dumb for not staying in school? My goals are to race/prerun baja stuff and own a 4X4 shop. I can do the fabrication but I would much rather just be able to pay someone to do it for me so I can hone my driving skills. Please share any adivice, comments, suggetions or stories.

Thanks for listening to my rant,

Alan

BTW anyone in the Oregon area needing help with any fabrication let me know I am willing to help any Cherokee'ers for the price of experience.

Wow, never realized how many people were going through this. I managed to work things out pretty well I think. I HAD to take a semester off of school(wasn't given a choice by the school), so I got myself a good job with a lot of potential in a field I enjoy(construction). I'm an assistant superintendent and really like what I'm doing. I'm going to start back to school this summer in the evenings and best of all, the company will pay for it. I won't graduate from Virginia Tech, instead I'll graduate from Old Dominion, but all in all I think this is best for me.

Alan, I contemplated the 4x4 business thing long and hard. I even had some potential backers lined up to get me started, but then I realized after watching a few of my friends in the business(RJ @ authorized vehicle 4x4 and Andy @ CRSU) that they put a TON of work into it and the rewards aren't as grand as it looks at first glance. Plus if you work your hobby, it's not a hobby anymore and it's harder to enjoy it(Andy drilled that into my head). I'm not saying you couldn't do it for a living and really love it, I get the impression that Mark Hinkley pulled that off, but it's not for everyone. I agree that you should finish your degree. It's amazing what the pay difference is between having a degree and not having a degree for the EXACT SAME JOB. If I had a degree right now I'd be making 12k more a year!!

I was also like you, lazy and unmotivated. I didn't get motivated to do school work 'cause I couldn't see the immediate reward in it. Unlike working where you get a paycheck every week and if you do really well there's bonus potential. However now that I've realized the monetary rewards for finishing school it's really turned me around. I don't know what drives you, but $$ sure does it for me :jester:

Anyway, I'm not trying to :lecture: I hope what I said helps in some way or another. Good luck!

Ary

 

[staticrevolution]

I was looking forward to hearing from you Ary glad to see that someone like me has figured out their goals. After thinking about it long and hard I turned in an application this morning for the school I had originally started. I will hopefully start in the fall, this should allow me time to save enough money to make the move over there. I think my biggest obstacle to me being in school was myself. I feel a little awkward starting over this late but I realize that I should take this opportunity before its gone. I don't have a house, a dog, or a wife. My only attachments are my friends and they should offer moral support. Thanks for your responses to Ary in his post as most of those comments have helped me come to this conclusion. Oh and GI-John going into the Air Force after getting my 4 year degree has always been a consideration.

Thanks everyone!

Alan

 

[Yucca-Man]

Ha, been there, done that with me, going thru it AGAIN with my son. First I would recommend ANYONE get a degree, does not matter what it's in, it gives you credibility and once gotten cannot be taken away, lost, expire or otherwise vanish.

Going through that right now and for the life of me I can't understand why anyone would think that a college degree lends credibility. All I see is a bunch of whining, illiterate alcoholics-in-training. They're great at organizing enough to protest the (issue of the day) or to determine where the beer's coming from, but unwilling to actually sit down and learn. Then again, the pablum that passes for instructional material is disturbing as well. I have taught many a small group in any number of curricula and the crap that passes for an "academic" these days is a joke. Of course, questioning those spouters-of-liberaldom or giving equal-time criticism to John Kerry is enough to earn special treatment. Don't get started with 'tenure' and how unrealistic it is compared to the rest of the "you can be fired at any moment" world.

Once these 'kids' earn their degree, what of it? They go off to a job in an unrelated field but earn promotions over the worker who has been doing his job (and his manager's) for years...only because they spent $40,000+ of someone else's money to get that unrelated degree? To me, credibility is actually knowing whereof you speak. It's not about sitting through 120 semester-hours of Basket-Weaving, it's about being out there, doing the job and knowing HOW it works, WHY it works, and how to fix it when it don't work. That can be applied to so many situations, it's not just a service related comment.


As for me? 16 years and two days ago I DEP'd into the Marine Reserve...time flies, and I could have been a Gunnery Sergeant by now. Damn those poor choices.

 

[GI-John]

As for me? 16 years and two days ago I DEP'd into the Marine Reserve...time flies, and I could have been a Gunnery Sergeant by now. Damn those poor choices.

15 years, 7 months, and 7 days for me.

Looking back, time flew by.

 

[woody]

Congrats Jim. You're in for a treat I am sure.

I think anyone trying to break into the Jeep (or 4x4 in general) market is facing a lot of competition right now... unless they brought in something new & desirable, or could generate lots of volume.

Alan has a tough hill to climb before his biz is rocking along w/o him while he's behind the wheel of a race truck. Not saying it's impossible at all...just a lot of bucks to keep tossing up. Is the gal a keepa? (IE: supportive of your dreams, capable & willing to help with a biz?) Would the P's and extended family support your efforts in starting a biz/race team? As a Snap-on guy, I saw & knew a lot of folks in the general auto-related biz in a less-than-prosperous area...Not pretty IMHO.

 

[woody]

15 years, 7 months, and 7 days for me.

Looking back, time flew by.

:roflmao: :bawl: :viking:

Damn John, you are short!

19 yrs ago tonight was my first night at Fort Knox Reception Station. My original ETS date was 1APR88.

Time does fly!

 

[biscuitboy87]

i went to school and did the trades (iron worker, sheet metal, havc, electrical) and then went to school for welding. i also taught french k-12 for 3 years. the teaching was the most rewarding feeling, but i wasn't able to shake the feeling of satisfaction of making something with my hands...welding.
i also have machine shop experience on various cnc machines, and the difference between me and the guy with the engineering degree is the $$, in fact i trained some of the guys who now make more money...so where am i going with this? the school will enable you to make the big bucks. school is a job, and a good place to make contacts. i am one of three who did not go into the sevices in my family. the navy has one of the best welding and metalurgy programs in the world. i have met some of the guys who do the welding on submarines and they are working with technology far superior to anything in the private sector...but in a way that is school too. do a search for nitinol (it was developed by the navy in partnership with teledyne) and you will get a tiny bit of what they do there.
listen to the older guys here, because as things change in this world and they also remain the $ame.

 

[Boatwrench]

GI-John,

Forgot one
1-800-GET-USCG

29 years, 2 months, 22 days.
Tom

 

[GI-John]

:roflmao: :bawl: :viking:

Damn John, you are short!

19 yrs ago tonight was my first night at Fort Knox Reception Station. My original ETS date was 1APR88.

Time does fly!

Nah, You're just OLD :shiver:

 

[ladywolf]

Money to be made in Jeeps? I'm not sure. I love my jeep, and wouldnt give it up for anything. I'm busy doing the Army thing, been in Iraq for the past year and getting ready to come home. Definitely made some cash out here, most of which is going into cherokee pieces parts if i dont decide to buy a certain YJ *snicker snicker*. If you got any army questions, just go ahead and ask. By the way, i'm also a grease monkey in the army, but for helicopters, not trucks.

 

[GI-John]

By the way, i'm also a grease monkey in the army, but for helicopters, not trucks.

Ya right....grease.... :sure: ....kidding

Get home soon, knucklehead! You gots some wheeling to do.....

 

[ladywolf]

Ya right....grease.... :sure: ....kidding

Get home soon, knucklehead! You gots some wheeling to do.....

Theres grease on my aircraft.....ok more hydraulic fluid than anything else, but we still use grease! I know your just kidding, and hell yea i'm coming home to do some wheeling! I gotta relax after being out here in the sandbox for a year!

 

[trouble1]

I just got into the 4WD business...at this point right now, and I'm not even close to being completly up and running...I've got close to $5,000.00 tossed into it and at least the same left to spend. Thats just to get the doors completly open and going. If you dont mind working...Still have full time job, and spend 70 hrs per week on the new business....and dont need to make money for a while, and can come up with something new that no one else offers...well enjoy. But I don't think I'd actually do it for a immediate income.
Just my .02....
Dave

 

[the_chief]

I'm in your boat, but a few years ahead(I'm 25 now). I ended up learning a trade (fine wood), trades don't pay much at first, but I learned more in the first six months than I ever did in college. Now (4 years later) earn a respectable living, and I have the ability to go back to school (which I did, and am doing) and after a few years, you'll be surprised how many people you can meet and how many tools you can accumulate. Just keep a good business relationship with everyone along the way, regardless of what you're doing.

I don't know if I can take on the big boys, but I can fab for myself (and for others) as I'm learning. Relationships are just as important as capital when starting a business.

Good luck, no matter what you do, you'll have to work hard and be patient, it will come to you.

 

[Roxtar]

Sure you can make money on Jeeps. You can make thousands into hundreds. Very few people actually live the dream of making good money off something they love to do. The best way to turn something you love into something you never want to see again is to rely on it daily for your substanance.
I have about 30 off-road fabbing companies on my favorates list. There are thousands more eeking out a living.
My advice is to get a job doing something you like that allows (money and freedom) you to enjoy the things you love.

 

[Ramsey]

My advice is to get a job doing something you like that allows (money and freedom) you to enjoy the things you love.

that has got to be some of the best advice I have heard