Lol perfect. Mason, I hope your business is and continues to kick ass! When it warms up, I am going to take a bike trip down and check it out!
I know one thing, I've gained more self control over buying dumb **** that I don't need in the past year or so than I've had my whole life. I'm not sure I could ever go back to the blowing money wheeling scene. If I did, it would be a much different approach than my last stint in it, living paycheck to paycheck and having to scrounge up money to buy a set of RCV's or fix whatever else tore up the last wheeling trip out. I remember the last year I had the ole red toyota crawl machine, I went wheeling 5 straight weekends (Saturdays) in a row, hauling all over north AL. I wasn't doing it near as bigtime as half of y'all but to look back on those expenditures, I cringe.
I'm not sure I could ever just be content and live a simple life, of course I'm only 31 so that has a lot of time to change. I feel like I have to constantly be working toward something bigger and better no matter what. That used to be toward a bigger and better offroad rig or motorcycle, now I'm content with the bike I have now and I don't have much in it, don't wheel anymore, and have taken that drive and motivation and applied it toward learning about managing rental properties. Rental real estate has really grabbed my attention, I love it and want to successfully grow a moderate portfolio of properties over time. May not work out like I plan, but the good thing is that there is a safety net. Safety net being if it ain't working or becomes too much, sell out some or all of your properties. There once was a thread on here that downplayed rental real estate, and I'm sure it can be a bit of a regional thing, but I have learned A LOT since then, and talked in depth with 4 or 5 local single family home owning landlords. I've had several other people tell me don't do it, "your house will get trashed, you'll have to deal with bad tenants", etc...but none of those people has ever owned rental units. I've yet to meet someone that has gotten into rental real estate and said it was a bad idea, or did not recommend it. The risk can be calculated, return is evident, it's challenging, and to me it's extremely exciting. People are always going to be looking for a place to live.
I also used to view my current job as somewhere I would probably stay until they had to kick me out, but with the way our work load is coupled with my inability to settle and be content, I'm trying to focus on finishing school and plan the next career move. I'd love to work for TVA in the corporate office in Chattanooga, or something along those lines. I need to be working on moving to a less physically demanding job eventually for when my one legged ass gets older and less physically able....and of course it wouldn't hurt if it paid more. ;D