Posted by Auctioneer on November 22, 2010 at 06:39:56:
Thanks for the advice!
What are your hobbies? - Posted by Tony Colella
Posted by Tony Colella on November 20, 2010 at 24:42:31:
For many of us, the mobile home investment business began as a hobby and for some of us turned into a full time job. Ironically they say the best way to kill a hobby is to make it a business.
Personally I think that many of us could do quite well in both the short term and long term by investing in cottage industries (backyard, small money makers) and mobile homes (long term/retirement income).
With that in mind, what are your hobbies?
Tony
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Michael(KCMO)
Posted by Michael(KCMO) on December 07, 2010 at 07:49:56:
A fascinating thread, Tony. It got buried down on the forum but I’d love to hear any more responses if anyone picks it up.
My biggest hobby used to be photography. Back in another life (single & before family) I would throw a cooler, sleeping bag, camera & plenty of film (digital was in it’s infancy) in the truck and take off for weeks at a time for parts unknown. No route planned, no itinerary. Just a general direction in mind and tons of fun ahead!
I hope to do this again one day. I’m going to be one of those old men driving an RV covered in bumper stickers from everywhere I’ve been! LoL
Also, like Dr B, I worked on old cars at one time. I had a '68 Mercury Cougar XR7. Unfortunately, I decided that since I loved to work on cars so much that I should get a job at a body shop. As someone mentioned, the quickest way to get turned off to a hobby is to make it a job. To this day, I hate working on cars even though I can do most anything on my own if I had to.
Currently, hobbies seem to have gotten squeezed out with the business of everyday life & family. Occasionally my girlfriend and I will go for a walk through the woods or go drown a few worms in the creek, but that’s about it.
Lately, I’ve been having a hankering to go pheasant hunting again!
My Best to All,
Michael(KCMO)
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Auctioneer
Posted by Auctioneer on November 21, 2010 at 05:12:20:
Tony,
Funny you should ask. My wife kids me about all my hobbies. Some go the way of the dinosaur. Some turn out to compliment my main business (real estate holdings). Oddly, I’ve embraced the economic slowdown and the hobby count has increased. Two years ago I started planting trees on unused tracts of land. Some tracts are being held for future potential, some are oversized lots with rental houses. The trees began when I needed to do some errosion control at an MHP on an unuseable hill. I plan to harvest in 5 to 6 years. Now I am selling tree seedlings. My personal garden sprung out of that and my latest is worm composting to create super fertalizer for my garden and trees. Friends laugh but always wonder why I’m not stressed about life and never seem to be working. My Auction business is pure fun. I turn down more than I take b/c I’m in it for the fun and the money will just follow. The key that I try to pass along to my kids and anyone that will listen. Start young, Study hard, work hard, save and invest half of everything you make from day one, always be looking for oportunities to work smart and invest smart…before you know it…it’s 95% fun!
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Tarheel T
Posted by Tarheel T on November 20, 2010 at 14:35:45:
Buying/selling Lowes & Home Depot merchandise credits.
I got started doing this just as a way to buy materials for rehabs at a discount, but it has now become a side business.
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by joe-ga
Posted by joe-ga on November 20, 2010 at 08:14:10:
I enjoy traveling,seeing the sites of america.I also
like old car museums,shows.I once took up a hobby of
restoring marquis signs.It quickly turned into a small
business until the local counties outlawed them.I would
see these things laying around everywhere with the
faces broken out.I would pick them up for $25 to $50
and take them home, clean them up and paintthem, put a
box of NEW letters with them,and resell them to other
stores,rent them for yard sales, and buy, sell, trade,
and swap.It ran well till the codes put me out here…
http://www.alphabetsigns.com/signs/c/FA00.html
this is NOT my business, I have already shut down my
site, however this is the product I started out as a
hobby, and ended up a business.
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Tim
Posted by Tim on November 20, 2010 at 06:33:22:
I’ve always been someone who loves the hunt for a deal, & have always shopped yard sales, estate sales & antique mall looking for a bargain. Over the last 18 motnhs I’ve turned that hobby into a part time business. I buy anything I think I can make a buck from, but about 90% of what I buy is jewelry & sterling flatware that I send to a refiner. It’s amazing to me how little professional antique dealers know about melt prices.
I’m on my way out the door to hit this weeks garage sales so I don’t have a lot of time to go into detail, but I shop about 20-30 hours a month & average $800-1000. It’s not huge money but every little bit helps.
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Glen (OH)
Posted by Glen (OH) on November 21, 2010 at 09:22:21:
I just commented to someone last week about a statement by Zig Ziglar which echoes your advice. ?Do what you have to do, when you have to do it, and soon, you can do what you want to do, when you want to do it.?
Great instruction from both of you.
Glen (OH)
are you talking about gift cards??? - Posted by Steve-WA
Posted by Steve-WA on November 28, 2010 at 11:04:40:
I’m still not clear, and I’ve never seen anything like this on CL - send me a link to one of your ads
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Bar T
Posted by Bar T on November 20, 2010 at 14:59:38:
How does that work? Sounds interesting.
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Auctioneer
Posted by Auctioneer on November 21, 2010 at 12:19:20:
Glen,
I am honored to be mentioned in the same sentence with Zig Ziglar. I very much appreciate that but I was the one inspired by Zig’s “See you At The Top” when I was 17 or 18. I’m 45 now and still reflect on lessons learned from that book and the many other business and attitude books and college professors that followed.
Thanks again, you’ve made my day!!!
Re: are you talking about gift cards??? - Posted by Tarheel T
Posted by Tarheel T on November 28, 2010 at 12:37:02:
link sent
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Tarheel T
Posted by Tarheel T on November 21, 2010 at 12:02:12:
Basically just put an ad on craigslist that you buy these cards and what you would offer as a % of value.
What you have to know is that buying Lowes cards is more risky than Home Depot ones because the seller could take down the # on a Lowes card and use the card online after you have bought the card. That has not happened to me yet but it is a risk to be aware of. So I definitely favor buying the Home depot cards, which cannot be used online.
Also when buying Home depot cards you must meet the seller at the store because they can only be verified there. Lowes cards however can be verified by calling the 800 # on the back of the card.
TT
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Bar T
Posted by Bar T on November 21, 2010 at 18:29:19:
Thanks.
I wonder if Lowes will consolidate several cards onto a
new one…thereby making the old id numbers void?
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Auctioneer
Posted by Auctioneer on November 21, 2010 at 12:22:28:
Good information! Are there any other stores such as Best Buy that you know the in and outs of?
Which catagory on Craigslist do you get the best results?
Thanks!!!
Re: What are your hobbies? - Posted by Tarheel T
Posted by Tarheel T on November 22, 2010 at 06:02:12:
Lowes and Hd is really all that i do. I might make an offer on some of the others but not much luck buying them yet.
I usually rotate the buy ad between the tools and materials sections. I also make offers on every card listed for sale in my area.