Carny Intro

[InLikeFlint]

Welcome Carny!

I still probably hold the record for longest intro, or even longest post in general

It's nice to see you here and I am always happy to see someone who just decides enough is enough and it is time for something new. I think it will be really helpful for you to try and find something to motivate you to stick with your ideas, whether that be your spouse, or goals, or whatever but that will definitely help in the future.

I also think that starting small is a good route, don't quit your job and jump right into it, ease into it with the investing you have now in the house, and with the CraigsList resales and just move your way up. Slow and steady wins the race!

Congrats on the child and I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!

 

[Carny]

I'm Justin. I go by Carny. I have no affiliation with any carnival and have all my teeth (with the exception of wisdom teeth). I'm from a small town in Oklahoma near Tulsa.

I think I found this forum searching for advice on flipping cars. We just found out we have another baby on the way and since we have ridiculously overpriced insurance which pays very little because I am self employed I was looking for an easy way to make a little extra cash.

I currently own a plumbing company and that is my main source of income. By company I mean a van, a bunch of tools and parts, a computer, and me. I really just have a job that requires me to do all sorts of extra stuff that I don't get paid for. I'm looking to get out of that. I don't mind plumbing, even though it is a crappy job , but I don't won't to do it forever. I'm only 34 and already am tired of picking up something heavy every day. I'd like to do something that actually requires the use of my brain.

I would hate to just give up on the plumbing business altogether, but for some reason I'm almost scared to try to make it grow. I don't know if it's because it is what keeps food on the table or if I'm afraid I'll fail and ruin the "business." I bought it from a good friend that retired four years ago. He spent 20 years "building" it. I used the " " because after 20 years he was really still just self employed, not a business owner.

I have so many interests that I can't even begin to think of what my "passion" is. I also have ADD. And although that may have something to do with me not finishing college I don't use it as an excuse or see it as a fault. I actually kind of like it. I probably have more creative ideas in a week than a lot of regular people have in a lifetime. I just cant stay focused long enough to Squirrel! Oh, stay focused long enough to follow through.

One interest is real estate. My wife and I bought a house to flip a while back. It's now our rent house. We spent to much time doing the repairs (strong starter, poor finisher) and during that time prices continued to drop due to all the foreclosures in that neighborhood. We still could have made a decent amount of money but my wife's cousin wanted to rent it so we agreed to it. It's been great so far, which has been about 8 months. They filed bankruptcy due to medical bills for their son when they didn't have insurance. They want to buy the house and the beauty of it is the bankruptcy will be off their records about the same time the house is paid for. We only had a 5 year note. We make almost $100 a month in cash flow but the principal on the loan drops quite a bit every month. If and when they buy it i'd like to roll that money back into more real estate.

My goal is to be rich. I don't know how rich exactly, but enough that I will leave a nice inheritance for my children's children. I grew up poor and hated it. For a while I made money the primary goal and didn't care how I got it. I still want a lot of it, but I know that there are other more important things and that money made the right way is much more enjoyable. Money is no longer the goal, it's a tool. (I don't know if I heard that somewhere or just came up with it, but I like it. I want the credit, lol)

I haven't read MJ's book yet but I am looking for fastlane income. I mentioned I'm looking into flipping cars but that is just to get some capital built up. I've made some offers but haven't had any takers yet. Even though it's not fastlane I'm building skills that will help me later, and I just like it. I've bought and sold on cl for a while now. I've made a little money but mostly used it to fund my "hobby of the month."

Ultimately I want that unlimited passive income, I'm just not sure how I'll get there yet. Vigilante's thread on importing was pretty interesting and I started looking into that a bit. That thread is actually the reason I finally registered. I was on page 15 I think when it was moved and I couldn't access it. I still don't know if I can now that I'm registered. If it's in a forum that requires a certain amount of posts to access can I get extra credit for what is probably turning into the longest intro ever?

Anyway, I'm excited to have found a group of like minded people to share ideas with. I do have a tendency to keep things to myself and try to do everything on my own to keep others from stealing my ideas. I don't know if its from growing up poor or if I'm just a selfish SOB, lol. But I do know that if we work together we can all be more successful than any of us can be alone. Rising tides raise all ships or something like that. Ok, I need to wrap this up for really-reals.

Thanks for reading all this if you made it this far and thanks for the great site. I'm glad to be a part of it and hope I can contribute something. Even if it's just plumbing advice, lol.

 

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