Newbie saying hello!

[hotrod]

Hi all,

Have been following the forum for a couple of months now and thought it was time I joined up and said hello, currently about to embark on a change of career into a trade although not 100% on which, my heart says tiling but my head says electrician ! Live on the isle of wight and am under no illusions as to the difficulty of a change of career at my age (40) but have done so twice in my life before so guess I have enough confidence in myself to follow my heart. Looking at the 10 week tiling course at able skills plus some additional plastering training to start with, have enough set by to start up business and to live on for a year to get myself started.
Always open to advice and (constructive) criticism, looking forward to one day being able to contribute to this great forum, have to say out of all the trade forums I have looked through this seems the most open and useful so well done all

Rod

 

[Ian]

Welcome along to TF. All the best with the career change.

 

[Gazzer]

Hi Rod, what is your trade/job now ?.

 

[hotrod]

Hi Rod, what is your trade/job now ?.

Im a regional manager for a team of financial advisers so a desk jockey !
although previously I have
worked on a building site
sold stationary
been in the royal navy
been a mortgage adviser
owned my own lettings business
runa property maintenance business
and been a financial adviser

Think it's time I settled down lol ! I have renovated several houses on my own and done all the bathroom, kitchen refits etc inc tiling (obviously nowhere near professional standard) and when I was told recently that redundancy was highly probable I had a long think about everything I've done what I enjoyed the most and decided to look at doing that.

Im under no illusion how tough it will be and not expecting to earn anywhere near what I currently do, nor do I need to really just looking for a simple life and having been employed and been an employer I know self employed suits me better. I know how to set up a business and market that business and myself so feel as long as I am careful about the level of jobs I take on for the first year or so I can slowly build a nice little business that can support me although don't need it to be at that level for probably 18 months

Parody

 

[PaulSmith]

:welcome:

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Welcome Rod and thanks for your input to another thread about the IOW.
I'd normally be negative about tiling courses and starting off a self employed business after a basic 10 week training period. However as you have the means to support yourself for 12 months you may be the exception - so the best of luck!
I'am often in the south working (London and Bournemouth) where I have family so if I can be of any help, post a thread or Pm me.
John.

 

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

:welcome:to the forum Rod the mod, LOL only joking !

 

[Bubblecraft]

Hi & welcome to TF

 

[Andy Allen]

:welcome:

 

[nybor62]

welcome to the forum

 

[hotrod]

Thanks for everyone's welcomes have spent about 4 hours today reading old posts absolutely magic has brought home how much there will be ahead of me to learn and looks like the actual cutting and laying tiles is only half the job (or even less maybe ?) strangely rather than put me off it has made the job even more interesting and attractive. One of the worries I had was that I maybe could get bored after a few years but looking at the albums of different jobs can't see me ever getting bored of that !

 

[White Room]

Hi and welcome.....