Advice appreciated - may quit racing for a bit

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Some really intellegent people have given you some good advice.  This is what a ditch digger can offer.
I am trapped for life in a job I hate.  With no education beyond High School, I was very lucky to get a job working for a municipal water department.  All the perks are there; pension, vacation, holidays beyond belief, huge benefits package, awesome overtime and a pay scale that rivals any blue collar job.  Eleven years so far.  I don't hate the job, actually.  Running heavy equipment is pretty cool.  It's the politics that kill me.  
Motorola seems to be dumping workers like my Huskey sheds hair in the summer.  Will your current job last?  Important question.  Here's the part about racing:
The politics of my job render concepts like merit, hard work and intellegence useless.  You win or lose by marrying the right daughter or kissing the right butts.  I hate this.  Before I started racing, I was practically homicidal.  Racing has filled the need in me for a level playing field where I win or (mostly) lose  based on my own hard work and skill.  I don't think an hour in my life goes by when I don't think about racing.  Work has become simply the means to finance my passion, and no longer bothers me nearly as much.
I was miserable 24/7 before I started racing.  Now the unplesantness of life barely even regesters on my brain.  In my mind, I'm ALWAYS racing.  Personally, I don't know if I could stop.  There are always times in life when we have to make tough decisions.  I guess the real question is whether you can mentally survive quitting racing.  Give this consideration as well.  A better deal is not necessarily better if it takes away the thing you love most and makes you miserable.  My $.02.

[james-redsv]

If you own your own business you can sponser yourself and deduct all of your racing expenses as advertising.  ;D You have to put your company stickers on your bike just like your other sponsers. What do you think companines like UPS, Lowes etc do when they sponser a NASCAR team?

[james-redsv]

K3 Chris you need to start your own business where hard work will get you everything you could want.

[Dawn]

K3 Chris you need to start your own business where hard work will get you everything you could want.

Ahhh....  but the paid vacations, health benefits, pensions or 401k's without the worry or stress of owning or being your own business is worth working for someone else.

Take it from someone who has been on both sides of the coin.

Dawn   ;D

[Baltobuell]

 James, don't think for a minute that the IRS will let you sponsor yourself. A special olimpics team, yes, your saturday softball team, in an audit you could be in trouble.
 
 Omni, I have the feeling your realitively young and career choice is REALLY, REALLY important. As Chris points out, it can be a trap. Don't think about racing when you make your decision. Which job will give you more options, a better life in the long run.

[OmniGLH]

Omni, I have the feeling your realitively young and career choice is REALLY, REALLY important. As Chris points out, it can be a trap. Don't think about racing when you make your decision. Which job will give you more options, a better life in the long run.
 

Yeah, I think I'm one of the younger ones here, at 25.  I definitely understand how one can get "trapped" in a career.

Racing isn't really affecting my career choice... but like K3 stated, racing is one of the few things I can occupy my mind with that allows me to forget about work and how much I hate going there.  If I give up racing, I *have* to quit this job - I won't have anything to calm me down.  

My career goals don't really include working FOR a company, actually.  I do see myself running my own gig.  In working for someone else, there's always that "glass ceiling" above you.  I can sit and bust my arse until the day I die...that doesn't mean I'm going to be CEO of the company some day.  I'll never get to that point... somewhere along the line, I'll stop climbing the ladder.  I don't like the idea that my future will be limited.  In working for yourself, the sky is the limit.. it's all a reflection of how hard you work at it.  If I bust my butt for somethng, it'd better be something that rewards me.

Quitting my current job, for this other job, isn't necessarily a career choice.  It's merely a lesser of two evils, until I get enough ideas up to get out on my own.  It's an opportunity to see/do/learn something else.  My current position is a dead-end position.  The skills I have learned for the job, are ONLY applicable to THIS job.  I haven't utilized anything from my degree since the day I graduated.  I've now realized this and want out.

And K3 - believe me, things are NO different on this side of the fence.  If you'll notice in my .sig, I'm well aware that it's NOT about how hard you work.  It's taken me 2 years working in the "real world" to see it... and it sickens me.  Those of us that work hard, get rewarded with ---  more work.  Those that whine, complain, pawn work off on others, kiss up to the boss, and blame everyone but themselves for their mistakes, get all the "atta-boys", pats on the back, and promotions.  The only way *I* can see to get ahead by hard work, is to work for myself.  

It sucks you hate your job... I know how it feels.  A college degree doesn't really fix anything, tho.  Of all my friends, the ones that are happy, NONE of them have degrees (well, ok, except for ONE guy.)  Carpenters, plumbers, electricians, service managers, home theater salesmen, mechanic, fireman.  They all LOVE their jobs.  Of all my "educated" friends and friends I knew in college, all but ONE are truly happy... my buddy Jay, he's a programmer (and he's SUPER slick with it.)

[Xian_13]

... Before I started racing, I was practically homicidal.  Racing has filled the need in me for a level playing field where I win or (mostly) lose  based on my own hard work and skill.  I don't think an hour in my life goes by when I don't think about racing.  Work has become simply the means to finance my passion, and no longer bothers me nearly as much.
I was miserable 24/7 before I started racing.  Now the unplesantness of life barely even regesters on my brain. ... 

Wow, I thought I was the only one that thought that way about my job adn racing!

[Super Dave]

The Super take...

I ruined my normal life by starting racing at nineteen years of age, my second semester in college.  I was able to survive because my scholarship to college and my elistment in the Nebraska Army National Guard paid for college, and my mom helped me on the financial side of racing a lot!

I decided NOT to go into the active military, although I was approached and sometimes badgered to do so.  OCS, NCO schools, etc.  I just wasn't turned on by it anymore.  Eventually, I actually graduated college.  I was contracted to a team, but the team pretty much went belly up, and I continued with my graduate degree...why not...besides, they give you a cool looking stole when you get a graduate degree...it's cool!

Got serious about racing, did full AMA series, started my school, etc.  I've raced all over the country, I get to race some really cool bikes some times.  I'm in debt, and MY business is now in the MC industry, after getting fired from my full time job running a John Deere and Kaw ATV dealership.  What to do?  

First, there is little money to be made in the motorcycle industry without really screwing people...(opinion).

I understand, obviously, how consuming MC racing can be, although it doesn't consume me like it did.  But I still love doing it, but I really enjoy being part of others' personal victories as well.

At 25, you seriously cannot consider that you will have the contacts or money to get yourself a ride that might give you an opportunity to ride for team for pay.  Those opportunities are for the well connected, media-hyped, and some that just have financial support.  It isn't like the days before when the best riders got the rides, if that necessarily always happened back then.  

What to do?  I feel the pain your having.  But you do need a job...  What's next.  

And why can people be such D1ck's sometimes?  If you fell down in the shower, they wouldn't pull such cr@p on you.  If you got hit by a drunk driver, even though you were still driving around at 2AM, they wouldn't razz you.  It must be all the fun were having.  Maybe we should tell everyone that were just "exotic dancers" or something.  That's acceptable as a recreation, isn't it?

[Woofentino Pugrossi]

Before I started racing, I was practically homicidal.

 ;D

Well I AM homicidal. Well part of my job is to kill things. ;D

[james-redsv]

Dawn I to have been on both sides and you will never make any real money working for someone else. There are way more benefits working for yourself than someone else, ask the person who owns the company you work for. Im not saying Im in the same legue as he, but ask Bill Gates too. BaltoBuell, check with your accountant, what I said is correct according to mine.

[ecumike]

Dawn I to have been on both sides and you will never make any real money working for someone else...

Reading this thread, just wanted to give my .02.. mostly my opinions.

I would have to agree with Dawn.  You CAN make real money working for someone else and it's not THAT bad.. ask my boss's boss, and his boss, and his boss, and Sam Palmisano. I think they all make quite a bit of money.

I've never workd for myself except in my current side business I have. I love doing what I do @ IBM. I can work anywhere I want... the beach, the track, my house. I can set my own hours, sleep in if I want... etc..  It all depends on WHAT your career is. I'm a Web Developer.. all I need is a phone jack and a computer and I'm 'working'. If I look at what I get paid and how many hours I actually do work, it's incredible.

I would say having a steady income as well as some side business is the best way. B/C you don't have to worry about having clients/work/paychecks, and having your own business on the side allows you to write off stuff. Every trip I make to the track is a complete write off for me, since one of my clients is a small newspaper Web site. Take some photos, write a little story.. write off ;)

I think the best situation (obviously) is to think about what and where you want to go in life.. take the job that's gonna give you skills that are transferrable IF they are relevant to what you want to transfer to.

Jim, not knowing much of you or your finances, or other aspects in your life, I think I would have to say something similar to lbk. Economy not the best, but picking up. Can you suck it up for a little while longer? Can you just take it easy the rest of the season or not race at all, and keep looking and start a side business? Or can you accept the risk of the new job and disablility, etc.  Just things to think about.

[Baltobuell]

 James, I was just forwarding what my accountant told me. He wrote off my HD bagger and smiled but forbode any racing writeoffs other than gas for the truck. Reality is, I think it's about how big your nads are at tax time. ;D
 Omni, clearly you need to leave your present job and search while your still young and without alot of people depending on you. It's a big world. The Hershey chocolate guy went bankrupt 3 times before he hit on a winner. If you were afraid of life, you wouldn't be on this board. Go for what you really want.
 PS: once you're a jillonaire, free track insurance for everybody.