Work in the Business? Any Advice?

[number9]

Thanks. I really appreciate these responses. I reached out to Q, I think that was a good idea.

Schooling. Ugh. I hate the idea of doing schooling at my age. I hated school. Barely made it. All that said I am not blind to the fact that yes, in a sense the, 'from the ground up' I suppose is not as fruitful as it once was. Which for me, kinda sucks. But I don't think I'm above sacrifice and hard (shitty) work.

I barely graduated high school, and finished undergrad when I was 28. I'm a month away from finishing grad school and let me tell you, schooling is very different when you want to be there because you want to better yourself. It is like night and day.

I'm a little biased but I would suggest you take a look at statistics classes or even operations classes. (If money is currently an issue, or if you just want to kick some tires, there is some phenomenal stuff on Khan Academy for free.) Knowing how factories work, how statistical process control works and how to optimize factory work can be pretty valuable stuff. If you're in or around the Upper Valley I could point you to some doors to knock on.

 

[NannerClips]

You could always start a youtube channel.

I don't do anything niche. I just can kind of shoot and know some stuff about AK's but probably not as much as Misha's cats.

Sounds like the spot to enter as a low level employee, keep your head down, do your job, don’t bang out sick and take stupid days off, get noticed on work ethic and enthusiasm from the bosses and have patience.

Yeah that's always been my MO. Every time.

 

[NannerClips]

I barely graduated high school, and finished undergrad when I was 28. I'm a month away from finishing grad school and let me tell you, schooling is very different when you want to be there because you want to better yourself. It is like night and day.

I'm a little biased but I would suggest you take a look at statistics classes or even operations classes. (If money is currently an issue, or if you just want to kick some tires, there is some phenomenal stuff on Khan Academy for free.) Knowing how factories work, how statistical process control works and how to optimize factory work can be pretty valuable stuff. If you're in or around the Upper Valley I could point you to some doors to knock on.

Yeah, I've had friends tell me the same after they started school for something they wanted to do. I'm in southern NH area.

 

[appraiser]

Thanks. I really appreciate these responses. I reached out to Q, I think that was a good idea.

Schooling. Ugh. I hate the idea of doing schooling at my age. I hated school. Barely made it. All that said I am not blind to the fact that yes, in a sense the, 'from the ground up' I suppose is not as fruitful as it once was. Which for me, kinda sucks. But I don't think I'm above sacrifice and hard (shitty) work.

You'd be surprised at how much easier school is when you are a few years older

Your brain operates differently, it is fully functional, and life experience helps.

It does not take a great deal of mechanical skill to be a FFL, it takes a sharp mind that can read, interpret, memorize and apply hundreds if not thousands of regulations.

It also takes a great deal of business acumen, lots of gun shops open, most close within a couple of years.

You are working a low margin business competing against the internet, and just doing transfers at 35 bucks a shot is not going to be enough to pay you and keep the shop open, while you have 30K in inventory in the cases you are paying interest on the loan for.

To be an armorer or gunsmith takes a good deal of mechanical intuition...ask anyone who has ever taken a Ruger MK pistol apart....

To be a top of the pile 07FFL/SOT or similar type of gun guru takes the mind of a machinist, engineer, and Rube Goldberg.

Become a 03FFL, take as many armorers courses as you can, learn the intricacies of various designs.

Learn to be a machinist, how to read a blue print, how to run a lathe, bridgeport, or any other machine you can.

Learn about materials, different metals, even composites.

If you can learn to program CNC machinery you can go far.

Have someone teach you how to read a Micrometer, vernier calipers, snap gauges, and any other form of measuring device.

Look at a Business End Customs or Greg Derr if you want an idea of what it takes to be a top tier reasonably successful firearms business.

 

[number9]

Yeah, I've had friends tell me the same after they started school for something they wanted to do. I'm in southern NH area.

At the risk of sounding like, well, me: most people like talking about what they do for a job. Find a job or a career path that you think is interesting, find someone who does it, and ask them about it. Call or email or LinkedIn with them and say, "Hi, my name is 357, I'm thinking of switching careers and I'm really interested in [your job]. What do you do, what do you like about it, and how do I get started in [your industry]?". Give it a try, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. This is a big part of what I do in school so happy to help write potential emails or whatever.

 

[number9]

It also takes a great deal of business acumen, lots of gun shops open, most close within a couple of years.

You are working a low margin business competing against the internet, and just doing transfers at 35 bucks a shot is not going to be enough to pay you and keep the shop open, while you have 30K in inventory in the cases you are paying interest on the loan for.

Learning basic business financial skills is also very valuable, and you can learn all of that online for free. Learn how to read a balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flows and you will be better informed than many business owners.

 

[NannerClips]

At the risk of sounding like, well, me: most people like talking about what they do for a job. Find a job or a career path that you think is interesting, find someone who does it, and ask them about it. Call or email or LinkedIn with them and say, "Hi, my name is 357, I'm thinking of switching careers and I'm really interested in [your job]. What do you do, what do you like about it, and how do I get started in [your industry]?". Give it a try, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. This is a big part of what I do in school so happy to help write potential emails or whatever.

Another solid idea. Yeah I'm going to give this a try as well. I'm just going to cast as many lines as possible. I need to warm up to pondering the idea of some form of education though. It seems one way or another that is often a necessary step. I would eventually like to be paid well.

 

[Snora]

Working hard at entry level is the biggest waste of time. If you're looking for a more technical job then you need actual skills that come from schooling, certifications, or experience.

 

[Mesatchornug]

At the risk of sounding like, well, me: most people like talking about what they do for a job. Find a job or a career path that you think is interesting, find someone who does it, and ask them about it. Call or email or LinkedIn with them and say, "Hi, my name is 357, I'm thinking of switching careers and I'm really interested in [your job]. What do you do, what do you like about it, and how do I get started in [your industry]?". Give it a try, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. This is a big part of what I do in school so happy to help write potential emails or whatever.

Great advice. I'll add acouple more more questions: what do you hate about it? What do you wish you knew before you got into the industry?

Especially in informational interviews, now's your time to learn what you do and don't want. And don't be afraid to reach high; info interviews are a great way to stroke egos.

I'm a mechanical engineer. I love what I do. It would be fun to work on firearms if I were working on novel functional designs. On the other hand, I'd personally hate to be cranking out yet another AR handguard every couple months. For others, that might be perfect. This world takes all types.

You don't know what you don't know. You're at the beginning of a great journey, and asking for help like you've done here is an important step.

 

[appraiser]

you said you are a cook right?

the financials of running a restaurant are some of the best to transfer into other fields.

Food cost, labor cost, portion control, inventory control ( stocking the minimum number of items to make the maximum number of menu items that will sell) shrinkage (especially if you are a pouring establishment), not drinking the profits, getting stuff on net 30 that you will sell in ten days... letting you use their money not yours, inventory turns, when to buy in bulk and take the discount vs buying in smaller batches at a higher price, when to take the pay early discount vs net 30, etc

If you are cooking at an established profitable restaurant, learn what you can about how it is done.

I scooped ice cream for 2 summers at a chain ice cream restaurant. The Managers were willing to teach me about the money end of the business. I have used those lessons for over 45 years now.

Example: someone sends a piece of meat back and it goes in the trash, you are going to remake the order including the sides. Figure the food and labor costs, then based on your average margins, how many hundreds of dollars do you have to sell to make that money back just to break even? Chances are you lost the profit on the entire parties guest check and couple of more.

 

[watchman]

If your smart you'd just marry a nice girl with lots of cash or her family with lots of cash.

If not:
Go back to school get a job that pays well and buy all the guns you want with enough left over to pay a gunsmith.

I know your saying I am being a wise guy but I am really not I am just providing you with some wisdom.

 

[Broc]

I have applied with Sig.

You are doing it wrong. You dont send a resume, you go to linkedin, find a director in the area you are looking to work and message th..

Trust me, you will get better results that way than sending your resume to sit in a pile with hundreds or thousands of other resumes only for an HR monkey to look at it one day and throw it away because they go by a job description and dont understand the world outside of those bullet points.

You would probably make more money doing sales for a food provision warehouse like US Foods or Sysco.

You already know the business, you know the struggle, you know how people get screwed over, you know when they are busy and when they aren't, what type of products they really want what they want to hear. You are an inside person. You also have conversation material. Try that first.

After you have the sales experience, this is the type of job you want:

Commercial Sales Account Manager

Commercial Sales Territory Account ManagerLocation: Central/Western PennsylvaniaSIG SAUER® world renowned firearms are the weapons of choice for many...

sigsauer.csod.com

Go on the field, sell and get the commission checks.

 

[NannerClips]

I've never used LinkedIn. I wouldn't have thought to for something like this. I always thought that to be more for networking "career professionals" than some jerkoff like me. If it's worth getting into however, I will go for it. Just strikes me as a tool for the more well established, but I'm basing that on nothing other than my assumption about it.

I would like to get out of any aspect of the food/hospitality business. I do understand the business fairly well after all this time I just don't see myself doing it for the rest of my days. I work for the biggest restauranteur in the state. I understand their business model and methods of operation but don't necessarily think it translates directly in this case. Especially since I'm not gunning for anything in sales. Experience is more important to me than the money off the rip so I'm not terribly worried about the biggest check possible.

 

[number9]

I've never used LinkedIn. I wouldn't have thought to for something like this. I always thought that to be more for networking "career professionals" than some jerkoff like me. If it's worth getting into however, I will go for it. Just strikes me as a tool for the more well established, but I'm basing that on nothing other than my assumption about it.

LinkedIn is definitely worthwhile, particularly (as @Broccoli Iglesias mentions) when it comes to networking with higher-ups. I'm not saying you can't succeed without it, but you should absolutely create a profile saying who you are and what you want to do.

 

[Mesatchornug]

I've never used LinkedIn. I wouldn't have thought to for something like this. I always thought that to be more for networking "career professionals" than some jerkoff like me. If it's worth getting into however, I will go for it. Just strikes me as a tool for the more well established, but I'm basing that on nothing other than my assumption about it.

I would like to get out of any aspect of the food/hospitality business. I do understand the business fairly well after all this time I just don't see myself doing it for the rest of my days. I work for the biggest restauranteur in the state. I understand their business model and methods of operation but don't necessarily think it translates directly in this case. Especially since I'm not gunning for anything in sales. Experience is more important to me than the money off the rip so I'm not terribly worried about the biggest check possible.

I've got good news and bad, so I'll try to keep this brief.

GOOD - "Networking" is simply jargon that lets normal people feel like power brokers. Your network is the people you know - family, friends, bosses and coworkers past and present. If you have a good relationship with your boss, I would start by bending his ear as early in the process; the only reason a person below management suddenly creates a Linkedin profile is that they're planning a move. Get him on your team early, and see what you can turn that into; maybe he'd be useful for connections or as an ongoing mentorship relationship. (Unless he's an anti, then keys, wife, upper decker as is NES tradition)

BAD - probably the most important lesson I've taken from my dad is that everything is sales. At the very least, you are always selling yourself to everyone around you. If you're thinking about going the self-employed route some day, there are some bubbles that need bursting here. Everyone gets into it because "you can do what you want." Which is true, from 10,000 feet. Until the company is large enough that you can hire someone to do every part of the job you hate, you're going to be the one scrubbing floors, doing marketing, chasing debtors, etc.

Every business sells something, plan to be in sales if you want to work for yourself. Then make a plan to grow enough that you can pay a MFer to cover the parts you don't like.

 

[Broc]

I've never used LinkedIn. I wouldn't have thought to for something like this. I always thought that to be more for networking "career professionals" than some jerkoff like me. If it's worth getting into however, I will go for it. Just strikes me as a tool for the more well established, but I'm basing that on nothing other than my assumption about it.

I would like to get out of any aspect of the food/hospitality business. I do understand the business fairly well after all this time I just don't see myself doing it for the rest of my days. I work for the biggest restauranteur in the state. I understand their business model and methods of operation but don't necessarily think it translates directly in this case. Especially since I'm not gunning for anything in sales. Experience is more important to me than the money off the rip so I'm not terribly worried about the biggest check possible.

1. LinkedIn is for everyone. It is free. Use it.
2. It is nice that you are going for experience. That is how I started, I went for experience and knowledge first and it paid off. I used to think sales was a horrible job when I was a Project Manager, then I moved to sales and loved it.

Sales is not just about the money (maybe it is just about themoney, lol), look at it this way:

Once you are in sales, you can move anywhere in the company. You can move to Operations, Support, Marketing, Specialist (a lot of companies have people specializing in a product) ... it's like you are the center. And, once you do sales for one company, you can sell any product at any company. Very few companies require someone that is highly specialized in a product or industry to do sales.

I sell software, if I get fired today, I would go for the Regional Sales role at S&W that they have open in MA right now, I would crush it and right now is probably a good time to get in, slow because everything is closed, which would give time to do all the required training, and sales will blow up once everything opens and the election rolls around. It's like you are guaranteed to hit your quota this year and have a job next year and if a D gets elected, it is job security for at least 4 years.

 

[weatherby]

I'd say spend some time and learn programming.

 

[NannerClips]

I really appreciate these responses. So much to consider that I never would have thought of. Very helpful.

I did hear back from Sig this morning so I will call them and see what they have to say.

I am working on creating a LinkedIn profile right now so we shall see what, if anything that will bring.

 

[number9]

I really appreciate these responses. So much to consider that I never would have thought of. Very helpful.

I did hear back from Sig this morning so I will call them and see what they have to say.

I am working on creating a LinkedIn profile right now so we shall see what, if anything that will bring.

Let me know if I can help with it. It seems trivial but once this virus bullshit ends, it might be worth getting a professional headshot taken. I think mine cost about $40.

 

[garandman]

I don't have any skills right now directly related to firearms other than my ability to shoot pretty well, understanding fundamentals of shooting, 2A all that shit. I'm a total AK geek too. //

Free ammo!

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The Army sent me to a one-week "Foreign Firearms" course. We learned about AK's, Dragunov sniper rifles and light machine guns. Every Army unit was supposed to have at least one. When we invaded Iraq, 3-7 Cav was short on M4's, but captured a bunch of AK's and used those for the rest of the campaign.

 

[polygraph603]

Given your age, FreeSiftyTheven, I'd take a hard look at what the military has to offer. It could give you the foundation you need.

Here'a a link to MOS (military occupational specialty) listings for the various branches...

A Complete List of Army Enlisted MOS

The complete list of job descriptions and qualification factors for United States Army Officer Jobs.

www.thebalancecareers.com

 

[Mesatchornug]

I'd say spend some time and learn programming.

In my experience, there are 10 kinds of people that think programming is the answer to everything: programmers, and people that know almost nothing about programming. (Yes, I did just make the lamest binary joke in the world.)

Are there jobs in it?
More every day. And it's viable in our current telecommute corona-cation.

Does it pay well?
If you're good at it, embarrassingly. Especially if you throw on a pair of Golden Handcuffs and join a FAANG cult.

Is it for everyone?
Not at all. Some folks don't think like programmers. Some folks want to use their hands, maybe get dirty and calloused. Some folks work really well with other humans.

Can it translate into different jobs?
Absolutely. The same thought patterns that build good code can be used to make good test devs and PMs and strategists. And managers that understand the work their team is doing will be get better results.

The question is - is this at all like what the OP has said thinks he'd like to get into? The only answer to that is found in his having a chat with someone that does it. Fortunately for the OP, there are something like 10,000 programmers on this forum, I'm sure one would be happy to talk with him about what it means to do the job.

In the same way that OP is asking for advice changing industries, and is getting guidance about career options, I would recommend that he grab a couple folks on here that absolutely either love or hate their jobs, and want to talk about why. There are a lot of gigs out there that nobody knows about.

OP - Lots of people think they want to get into an industry (e.g. firearms) because they like using the end product. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it's a nightmare. This is the perfect time to sort out what you're actually looking for. It might be that you want a gig that lets you work for the weekend: i.e. get a paycheck doing something you couldn't care less about; then clock out at 1700 on Friday and blow that loot on guns and hunting trips, forgetting about work until 0830 Monday morning. It might also be that you're self-destructive: i.e. you'll "chase the dream" of building a company to make that one firearms accessory you've been dreaming about since you were three, working 90 hour week, going broke in the process, and loving every minute of it.

 

[NannerClips]

It kills me to say this. I wanted to join the military really bad for a long time. Not for the guns either. It was a hard pill to swallow when I was told due to being a lifelong asthma sufferer I cannot join. Totally sucks ass. Had it since I was born.

 

[NannerClips]

OP - Lots of people think they want to get into an industry (e.g. firearms) because they like using the end product. Sometimes that works out, sometimes it's a nightmare. This is the perfect time to sort out what you're actually looking for. It might be that you want a gig that lets you work for the weekend: i.e. get a paycheck doing something you couldn't care less about; then clock out at 1700 on Friday and blow that loot on guns and hunting trips, forgetting about work until 0830 Monday morning. It might also be that you're self-destructive: i.e. you'll "chase the dream" of building a company to make that one firearms accessory you've been dreaming about since you were three, working 90 hour week, going broke in the process, and loving every minute of it.

Yeah I never wanted to do it because I shot 2 Glocks and decided I wanted to be the "King of Guns". I'm a pragmatist. I've wanted out of my field for a while and think that while I do love the end product, the business itself offers many avenues and opportunities I can pursue. Lots to learn. Much more than what I'm doing now and I could see building a career and eventually something more off of it. And, ya know, if in the meantime I could enjoy what I do, that's a nice bonus.

 

[polygraph603]

It kills me to say this. I wanted to join the military really bad for a long time. Not for the guns either. It was a hard pill to swallow when I was told due to being a lifelong asthma sufferer I cannot join. Totally sucks ass. Had it since I was born.

I understand. One of my sons is almost 40 and has been plagued with asthma since he was four. He's athletic and played sports vigorously throughout school/college, and still plays organized baseball today. But when asthma attacks him acutely, it's time for the bench. It has been the source of endless frustration for him.

 

[NannerClips]

I understand. One of my sons is almost 40 and has been plagued with asthma since he was four. He's athletic and played sports vigorously throughout school/college, and still plays organized baseball today. But when asthma attacks him acutely, it's time for the bench. It has been the source of endless frustration for him.

Yeah I'm used to it. I never think much of it until things such as that come up. It's been a nice nerve racker during this friggin virus I'll say that.

 

[uwaeve]

Yeah I'm used to it. I never think much of it until things such as that come up. It's been a nice nerve racker during this friggin virus I'll say that.

The good news is that asthma has been shown, from what I have seen, to not be a significant contributor/comorbidity if you do get it, despite being a little counterintuitive. Still stay safe, but hopefully rest a little easier since they have done a 180 on that. I think before a lot was known/seen they were putting out that asthma was something to be worried about, but I don't think it's been proven to be true.

 

[NannerClips]

The good news is that asthma has been shown, from what I have seen, to not be a significant contributor/comorbidity if you do get it, despite being a little counterintuitive. Still stay safe, but hopefully rest a little easier since they have done a 180 on that. I think before a lot was known/seen they were putting out that asthma was something to be worried about, but I don't think it's been proven to be true.

I will admit I am not as concerned as I was when this all started.

 

[NannerClips]

Reached out to Sig.

They indicated that they do assembly positions (and more I'm sure) through a staffing agency on a tenp-to-hire basis. That's not me. The hunt continues.

 

[polygraph603]

Reached out to Sig.

They indicated that they do assembly positions (and more I'm sure) through a staffing agency on a tenp-to-hire basis. That's not me. The hunt continues.

Temp-to-hire is more and more common these days, and has its advantages for both parties. I spent over 20 years in marketing before changing careers after 9/11. During that time I landed three great full-time permanent positions by starting as a temp (contractor). If you're good, the company will notice you and find a way to bring you in.