Welcome to the "Hard Times Saloon!"

8/6/2003 | Luke Skyfreeper

[PJ-Comix]

opening a restaurant...

Bad advice. Restaurants are one of the toughest businesses to get into. Sometimes you work hard all day...just to break even.

[PJ-Comix]

I used to go to police auctions to find fancy electric guitars. Maybe I will do so again.

[Billthedrill]

One little suggestion - for those who haven't done it yet, make sure your current state is reflected in your member profile, and give just a hint of what you do there. That way when somebody does come up with something it won't be hard to find you.

I've been there too and it blows chunks. My advice is to consciously remind yourself that unemployment is not a character judgment, and that a really miserable job will kill you quicker than poverty will. Cold comfort when you're pinching pennies, I know, but it's a fact.

[southern rock]

I tried this well over a year ago

Man, has it been that long? I left New York shortly after this and have been to Texas and now back to New Jersey again, all in about a year. Things aren't great yet, but at least the wife and I are working, and making the bills now. 2001 and 2002 were a couple of sucky years for me, but I wasn't alone.

Good luck to all.

[BushCountry]

If anyone is thinking of moving, this is the lastest and greatest list of the best places to live and work.

1. Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
2. Madison,WI
3. Austin, TX
4. Huntsville, AL
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Nashville, TN
7. Fargo, ND-Moorhead, MN
8. Minneapolis, MN
9. San Diego, CA
10. Salt Lake City, UT
11. Columbus, OH
12. Tampa, FL
13. Cambridge, MA
14. Louisville, KY
15. Overland Park, KS
16. Tucson, AZ
17. Bellevue, WA
18. Omaha, NE
19. Charlottesville, VA
20. Boulder, CO

 

[mlmr]

I remember those sites. I write a weekly column. It is published and paid for in one market......I need 99 more. Look at that old weekly of yours..... does it need a socially conservative and cute voice in the wilderness???

[swheats]

Be encouraged. This might be the time to actually find what you really like to do and go after it.

I decided to quit my job in 9/2002 to care for my children. My husband's art commissions have grown steadily, something that he loves to do.

[RaceBannon]

Just got told to notify the local supermarket when I get the sling off, there is a 3rd shift opening and they are saving it for me to stock shelves.

It should pay most bills, but I may still have to declare chapter 7 to do that

Also, need to see the Harriett savings and loan for the new rent money, due to the lawsuit from my shoulder incident, they are throwing me out when the lease is up

However, the battle is not over yet, just entering the final interesting stage...God is in charge!

[Noumenon]

Fortunately for me, a rural area where households are distributed one per 5, 10 or 20 acre parcel is a virtual guarantee that they'll never see cable tv, much less broad internet access of any kind. The choice is either 21.6 kbps on a good day or StarBand at 500-600 kbps down and 60 kbps up. Once they get past the $700 buy-in, it's $50 a month including the ISP fee and 10 email boxes. Not too shabby.

I just landed a group of 11 people who were rudely rebuffed when they petitioned Verizon to extend DSL to the area. I'll hit critical mass at the 100 installation mark, and I'm halfway there.

[Noumenon]

Cool - keep the faith.

[Billthedrill]

You have FReepmail.

[PJ-Comix]

Do you install them or sell them? I used to just sell the dishes and a team from the company would install the dishes.

p.s. My all-time record was THREE sales in one day. Actually it's impossible to beat that since you can only call on about three customers in one day.

[TaxRelief]

*ping* Hardtimes/unemployment thread.

[PJ-Comix]

Try entering writing contests. I'm going to try that. I won the two that I entered a few years ago when I gave it a try and recently decided that money can be made from those contests. Of course if the entry fee is $20 for a lousy $50 prize then it's not worth it. But many writing contests have good payouts such as $10 entry fee for a $1000 prize.

[Noumenon]

Both. I make no money on the gear. There's a residual on the monthly fee that's not much more than chump change, but it adds up as your installtion accumulate. Other than that, I make $200 bux on the install fee, and what ever else that comes up in the way of general network and security consulting.

One of the reasons I got into this is that the local installers do the crappiest work I've ever seen. Squirrels would do a better job. So I use premium cable, premium connectors, and I use the right tools to do the job. So my stuff works, and it keeps working.

To certain extent, installation is non-trivial. Since the outbound and inbound signals are co-polarized, you MUST get the antenna properly tuned and skewed and gegt it right the first time. Failure to do so hoses up the satellite for everyone else. People in the StarBand Network Ops Center become deeply saddened when that happens. It ain't Dish Network.

[Starwind]

This may have been done or may not be practical, but...

'spose you guys swapped job leads cross country.

Freeper A in zip code N needs a job doing Y but only knows of job doing X in his zipcode N.

Freeper B in zipcode M can do job X, and knows of job Y in his zipcode M

If each freeper exchanged leads and inside info, they might apply for these jobs without having to go thru agencies or HR drop boxes. Obviously moves would be necessary if accepted, but if a freeper has exhausted his local leads...

[rface]

I am not facing hard times now, but in '98 I moved from Boston to Columbia, Missouri because my wife was accepted to graduate school. I left a job in Boston (not a great job, but it was something good to put on my resume) and moved to Missouri with no job prospects and only a couple thousand $$ which I had to get an apartment and all the things that go with setting up a new living space...

After a couple months of discouragment and shrinking funds, I decided to go to the Temp. Service place and I signed up...... for what ever I could get. I took odd jobs, and it kept a little $$ rolling in. I also made sure to scour the papers and fine tune my resume (my wife helped a lot with this - this is very important.) I hand dropped off my applications and resume every chance I could.

I went to any interview that wanted to talk with me - some of these interviews sucked - some were not so bad...

When I least expected it, I was offered a position - far below what I thought I was worth, but I took it anyways. I new I could work my way to a better paycheck.

*****My suggestion = go to a temp service if you have to. It lets you begin to network with people and it keeps you from moping around. Get you resume in fine shape and target it specifically to each job that you apply to.

I you belong to a church, let the people there know that you are looking for a job. Talk to the Pastor or Priest - he knows the congregation.

Don't be afraid to look outside your immediate geographic area *****

Sometimes its hard to stay positive - but you have to.

((thanks for the "ping"))

[Starwind]

Should have mentioned, as it's a public forum, you may want to use freepmail to swap the leads, just use the thread to describe skills/job req's/zipcodes, but not contact info.

[expatpat]

.......led me to quit and remodel the house for past two years.

How about buying up houses that need lots of attention, fixing them up, and selling them for a good profit? The nice thing about this is that your labor earns not Wages, but pays off as Capital Gains, taxed at a lower rate.

[netmilsmom]

Do you know of a job for a Sun Certified Daddy in the 483XX zip code?
We haven't seen extra money in three years and our property taxes have jumped 150%