Biggest Risk?

[KSanford33]

What was your biggest risk professionally and how did it turn out?

 

I have the opportunity to move in my company, but there's a fair amount of risk involved and I'm curious to others' experiences.

[Darth-Baiter]

mine might not be a risk..but more of a tough investment.

 

i was working.  but going NOWHERE.  retail, etc.  i dropped everything and went back to college and got a civil engineering degree.  i was 28 years old, and my future was kinda bleak.  but i survived and now i am the civil engineering king-pin i am today.  haha...

 

bottom line, i am risk adverse, and it gets tougher as i age.  if you have anything resembling youth..go for it.  time is your friend. 

[Jar11591]

2 years ago I quit my career of 10 years to make my side hustle doing lawn care my full time job. A buddy of mine co-owns the business. 2 years in, we have dozens and dozens of year round customers. So far the risk has paid off. I don’t have a boss, the money can be good, I get to work outside, and generally enjoy what I do now. 

[AlabamaSpothunter]

kudos to the risk takers, those are the people that get to the mountain top, also the people that fall off it and go splat.

 

I always laugh and know that I'd never have been one of the early pioneers or went out west in search of gold.

 

It takes huge tamales to make major life changes.  

[Darth-Baiter]

mmmm...Tamales!!  well, actual tamales and NOT the euphamism tamales referenced by Alabama.

[volzfan59]

I don't know just how risky this really was  Back in the 80's, I was fairly stifled promotion wise. I was in law enforcement working for the state of TN in Knoxville, my home town. There just weren't that many opportunities to move up. Without knowing a soul, we packed our stuff and moved to Nashville after my lateral transfer was approved. Worked out great for me. After a couple of years, I moved to Corporal, then to Sergeant and finally to Lieutenant. After moving back to Knoxville and retirement I started over again with a local Sheriff's department. Made it to Sergeant again before hanging it up completely.

[TOXIC]

I was a native son Nebraska boy born and raised.  Dead end job after dead end job I got the opportunity to go to work for the government in a contract position in 1985.  Worked 2 years and got offered a career position that was a $40,000.00 cut in pay.  I made up my mind right then and there that if I took the appointment, it would be my last job and I was all in.  I moved multiple times, which I never thought I would do, and turned down many job offers at much more pay outside the government.  34 years later I retired from the executive branch of the government at the SES level so I guess my risk paid off.  There was a lot of very hard times during that career but I am comfortably retired with great benefits and at peace with myself knowing I made a difference for a lot of people. Only you can make the decision if the risk is worth the reward.  

[ScottW]

Mine was more of a ‘have to’ situation. I spent around 40+ years in printing. From operating various printing presses from small to very large 3 story ones (newspaper). I also spent that time maintaining them and went through a machinist/millwright apprenticeship to be able to do my job better.

 

In the last 5 years of that career I underwent 5 surgeries: back twice, both knees and torn rotator cuff. It was a pretty body abusing job. The last surgery I was told I would not be able to do manual labor again because the docs found irregularities with my heart. I could barely make it to the mailbox and back after the 5th surgery. 

 

I had a decision to make. Take disability and sit on my arse all day becoming addicted to daytime TV or find another way to make a living. With my wife working (4th grade teacher) it was a no-brainer. I was already into web development, light coding, Linux (various distros: Fedora, CentOS, etc.) so I tried working for a web hosting company from home. Everyone including the CEO worked remotely and my new career took off. Nowhere near the income I was making but I was helping with the bills.

 

I wound up working for a few web hosting companies from 2012 to this year when I retired. It was a huge risk to jump to something new but I knew two things at the time: 1. If you don’t at least try, you’ll never know what the outcome will be and 2. My health wasn’t getting any better.

 

5 stents and several medications later and I’m doing better plus I was able to retire.

 

My advice @KSanford33 is if the risk is worth the reward, go for it. If you don’t you’ll always wonder ‘what if’. ?

[DitchPanda]

Well I had a pretty secure gig going 10 years ago...money wasn't great but it was getting better and I loved the job and people I worked for. One day I decided I couldn't live how I wanted on that salary so I gave it up and went into the biofuels industry. At the bottom rung of the ladder is where I started and in 9 years I went from 40k a year  as an operator 1 to tech 3\water chemistry specialist and just under 6 figures. May not seem like much to some of you guys but considering the median income around here is 45-55k I feel very pleased with it.

[Kirtley Howe]

Early in my working career, I had a job in a family-owned hardware chain. The manager who was nearing retirement (and he happened to me one of the family-owners) took a shining to me, and was grooming me to become the store manager, and eventually a partner in the business. The company had 8 stores located in NY and PA, so there was some good money to be made. When the manager/owner I worked for retired, a feud broke out between family members and the PA branch of the family won the feud and I was given the "option" to move to PA, and start over with the company (as in become a basic store clerk again). I told them to pound salt, packed two changes of clothes in a bag, withdrew my money from the bank ($350 or so) hopped on my motorcycle (a Yamaha 350 two stroke twin) and rode it from Candor NY to St. Pete FL in 19 hours straight through. I got to St Pete with no job, no place to live, and I knew no one.  I found a job, got an apartment and started over. I don't regret a thing. The only reason I ever left Florida was that my mother became ill, and I went back to NY to help care for her. So I started over again. Got a job at Cornel University in Ithaca NY and worked there for 21 years. I had two jobs (careers) after that, but that is another story.

 

[TnRiver46]

Usually something like this 

[A-Jay]

Risk can be a tricky deal ~

A-Jay

[Mobasser]

I left a good job as a journeyman union carpenter to work for an independent contractor. After so many years in the union, it was taking it's toll physically. Hip, and knee problems mostly. It's d**n hard work. I'm glad I left the union when I did. Now I'm retired and better off.

[12poundbass]

The risk I took wasn’t a huge risk, but big enough at the time for our young family.

 

I stayed in the same field and left the company I was established at, to go to the competition. I left for numerous reasons, one advancement opportunities or lack there of, and two the crazy amount of hours which caused me to miss out on things at home with my son who was four at the time.

 

I took a pay cut and basically started at the bottom. It worked out great! I worked my way up the ladder which brought more money. On this side of the state our company had only one customer. This was great for me because I’ve developed a great working relationship with the customer (utility company) and I’m their go to. This is great because if the right position opens up there, I’m throwing my hat in. 
 

Here’s the thing though, the position I just mentioned was supposed to open this year. As the year went on, it was pushed to next year. Now they’re in “lean mode” so it’s doubtful it’ll happen in 2023. A couple months ago I talked with the guy who hired me to this company. He left last year to work for the company who oversees all utility locating in Michigan. He’s been talking to me about taking over the west side of the state doing what he does (he currently covers 3/4 of the state). This would be an absolutely great opportunity! So I have some thinking to do and some more talking with him to do. 
 

I’m not a big risk taker so these things are out of my comfort zone.

 

[Way north bass guy]

Mine wasn’t so much of a huge risk, as much as it was just a major change, that I knew was gonna come eventually. 
I grew up in a family of stonemasons, I’m the fourth generation to do it. Worked for my dad pretty much every summer through school, then full time once I graduated. When he finally retired, I had basically two choices. Go work for someone else, or go out on my own. 
The actual physical work part of the job was easy peasy, as I’d had literally a lifetime of experience in it, but the business side of things were a little scary, as I hadn’t truly “ran” anything like that myself. I chose to do my own thing, and it was definitely the best decision. I’m my own boss, I can pick and choose what projects I want to do, who I want to work for, and how much work I actually want to do. 12 years into it, I’m as busy as I could ever want to be, and because most of my projects are more like commissioned art than just regular construction, I get to pick and choose the jobs that I really want to do for people. 

[gim]

3 hours ago, DitchPanda said:

Well I had a pretty secure gig going 10 years ago...money wasn't great but it was getting better and I loved the job and people I worked for. One day I decided I couldn't live how I wanted on that salary so I gave it up and went into the biofuels industry. At the bottom rung of the ladder is where I started and in 9 years I went from 40k a year  as an operator 1 to tech 3\water chemistry specialist and just under 6 figures. May not seem like much to some of you guys but considering the median income around here is 45-55k I feel very pleased with it.

Well done. We may not have exactly the same taste in beer but I will commend you for this move.

 

If I can ask, what was the “secure gig for 10 years” that you left?

[DitchPanda]

2 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Well done. We may not have exactly the same taste in beer but I will commend you for this move.

 

If I can ask, what was the “secure gig for 10 years” that you left?

I was assistant store manager of the grocery store here in town and I ran the meat department as well. Family owned store and I was very close with the owner...his son is one of my best friends. Great people to work for and I loved the customers...plus there is something therapeutic about cutting meat to me. The sad truth is I couldn't really make ends meet and I just wanted some financial flexibility instead of just scraping by or worse.

[flyfisher]

All depends what you define risk.  I took the risk of dropping out of college multiple time to climb, fish backpack etc....then took the risk of moving from a successful corporate gig as a process engineer to be a teacher.  All risks and all turned out ok.  Most didn't involve any increase in salary but money isn't everything to me as I can make it work but doing something I view as valuable is much more fulfilling.  

[TOXIC]

15 hours ago, A-Jay said:

Risk can be a tricky deal ~

A-Jay

Reminds me of the old saying:

 

The early bird may get the worm…..but the second mouse gets the cheese. ?