Starting a small CNC shop

[CITIZEN F16]

I still enjoy making stuff. But, I hate working. I often wonder if people (specifically small shop owners) have hobbies beyond their work?

I used to have hobbies beyond work as I always got by on limited sleep. I had to pretty much give them all up due to the chickens coming home to roost from a host of old injuries. Most of those injuries came from hobbies I had, one of those was crashing motorcycles. Three street crashes of which one was my fault for riding too fast at night. Dirt bike crashes too many to count, those were caused by being wound too tight and trying to ride as fast as an A class rider with C class skills.

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

Reinventing myself and the recession of 2008 wiped out my retirement fund. I was loyal to my 5 employees and gave them fat severance checks that I did not have to. I gave my salesman a down payment on a house and a month's living expenses, and paid for him to move 120 miles away where his brother got him a job in the service department of the auto dealership he worked in. I caught lightning in a bottle and needed staff quickly so I poached them from steady jobs that the recession did not kill off. I wish I was one of those selfish shop owners everyone talks about or at least 50% selfish.

That is alright though. I had to give up golf because of a bad back, I am a lousy fisherman, and an animal lover who will only shoot a deer with a camera. I cannot stand the crampedness of an airplane and my back doesn't like long road trips anymore. So what would I do if I retired? Might as well work till I drop.

I hear you on this one. The only hobby I have in my 1975 Superior Hearse on Cadillac chassis. I just don't have time/money for anything else, and frankly, I'm happy with that as I enjoy being on my own in my own place.

 

[William Payne]

I definitely wouldn't liquidate my entire shop. But, I would quit taking on "work".

I still enjoy making stuff. But, I hate working. I often wonder if people (specifically small shop owners) have hobbies beyond their work?
I know I have enough interests, hobbies, projects, and activities, beyond the stuff that makes the paycheck in the shop, stacked up deep enough to far surpass a full-time job for many years to come.
I agree with William when he said:



I could retire tomorrow if the opportunity arose! NO PROBLEM!
But, that does not mean I would be a lazy slug sitting on my ass. So many projects I would be more than happy to finally get around to spending real time on.

Exactly! When the day comes that I can one day retire I will still be plenty plenty busy.