🧑‍🤝‍🧑 / 🏡 In my 50’s retired to do my own thing.

[Rsedge72]

1st off I have been splicing, trouble shooting, and building fiber infrastructure since the mid to late 90’s.

Early last year I retired to do my own thing to get myself to the way I “want” to retire (not in good shape but very wealthy).
I invested about $350,000 into the business. Immediately earned a 5-7 year contract worth $300,000 to $700,000 a year. Made on the high end of that from April to December. Started this year rock solid, then in early march the builds were all frozen. No breach of contract just stopped nationwide, still frozen.
Now I have invested another large chunk of money into a new “massive” project in Texas. Well I’ve been here almost 4 weeks and it’s f’ing miserable work. Been going from 5am to 7 to 10pm getting geared up and going (learning some new systems and diving into the build). Today it hit me, I’m older and my body is having trouble keeping up. Came down pretty sick today nothing serious but my body is telling me to slow down a little. I have had liver problems (poisoned by bad meds a couple years ago).
I’m just venting on the interwebs this evening laid up board out of my mind, haven’t seen my grandkids in too long.
Took a little time Saturday to watch half the game and shut it off and went back to work (that was supposed to revitalize me).

 

[Scrape&Search1032]

1st off I have been splicing, trouble shooting, and building fiber infrastructure since the mid to late 90’s.

Early last year I retired to do my own thing to get myself to the way I “want” to retire (not in good shape but very wealthy).
I invested about $350,000 into the business. Immediately earned a 5-7 year contract worth $300,000 to $700,000 a year. Made on the high end of that from April to December. Started this year rock solid, then in early march the builds were all frozen. No breach of contract just stopped nationwide, still frozen.
Now I have invested another large chunk of money into a new “massive” project in Texas. Well I’ve been here almost 4 weeks and it’s f’ing miserable work. Been going from 5am to 7 to 10pm getting geared up and going (learning some new systems and diving into the build). Today it hit me, I’m older and my body is having trouble keeping up. Came down pretty sick today nothing serious but my body is telling me to slow down a little. I have had liver problems (poisoned by bad meds a couple years ago).
I’m just venting on the interwebs this evening laid up board out of my mind, haven’t seen my grandkids in too long.
Took a little time Saturday to watch half the game and shut it off and went back to work (that was supposed to revitalize me).

I have a suggestion.

 

[TerryP]

Today it hit me, I’m older and my body is having trouble keeping up.

Early last year I retired to do my own thing to get myself to the way I “want” to retire

Retire should be defined as "taking the time to look for something else to do."

 

[TerryP]

Came down pretty sick today nothing serious but my body is telling me to slow down a little. I have had liver problems (poisoned by bad meds a couple years ago).
I’m just venting on the interwebs this evening laid up board out of my mind, haven’t seen my grandkids in too long.

Vent all ya want. You're in an area I can relate: too closely for comfort.

Considering my history one would think it would be a liver thing with me. Nope. But, try gallstones stuck in the pancreas on for size. One, it don't fit. Two, I've posted here more than a few times while stuck in the ED over the last year.

(Unrelated note: They call it ED there, not ER. I've asked why more than a dozen times. No one really knows.)

 

[It Takes Eleven]

Vent all ya want. You're in an area I can relate: too closely for comfort.

Considering my history one would think it would be a liver thing with me. Nope. But, try gallstones stuck in the pancreas on for size. One, it don't fit. Two, I've posted here more than a few times while stuck in the ED over the last year.

(Unrelated note: They call it ED there, not ER. I've asked why more than a dozen times. No one really knows.)

Sorry you've had trouble with ED.

 

[TerryP]

Sorry you've had trouble with ED.

I knew that was coming.

 

[TerryP]

@It Takes Eleven now that I have your attention.

We've talked about BWW; the wings, that burger you like, etc. I've mentioned the one a few miles from here and specifically avoiding it because of the traffic. A LOT of that traffic is headed to the Chick-Fil-A that's next door.

We've talked about Chick-Fil-A's here and seeing them develop; here specifically with their drive-thru service. Your wife gave you a perspective there.

Get this. The wings place? Gone. Chick-Fil-A? They've bought the property to expand their drive thru ...

(The owner has one of the few restaurants still open in the mall that's across the street. That's not hard to imagine.)

 

[alabama mike]

1st off I have been splicing, trouble shooting, and building fiber infrastructure since the mid to late 90’s.

Early last year I retired to do my own thing to get myself to the way I “want” to retire (not in good shape but very wealthy).
I invested about $350,000 into the business. Immediately earned a 5-7 year contract worth $300,000 to $700,000 a year. Made on the high end of that from April to December. Started this year rock solid, then in early march the builds were all frozen. No breach of contract just stopped nationwide, still frozen.
Now I have invested another large chunk of money into a new “massive” project in Texas. Well I’ve been here almost 4 weeks and it’s f’ing miserable work. Been going from 5am to 7 to 10pm getting geared up and going (learning some new systems and diving into the build). Today it hit me, I’m older and my body is having trouble keeping up. Came down pretty sick today nothing serious but my body is telling me to slow down a little. I have had liver problems (poisoned by bad meds a couple years ago).
I’m just venting on the interwebs this evening laid up board out of my mind, haven’t seen my grandkids in too long.
Took a little time Saturday to watch half the game and shut it off and went back to work (that was supposed to revitalize me).

Hope you get to firing on all 8 soon. I turned 64 last Saturday and the ole body just does not recover like it did. Best wishes too with your business adventure.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

@It Takes Eleven now that I have your attention.

We've talked about BWW; the wings, that burger you like, etc. I've mentioned the one a few miles from here and specifically avoiding it because of the traffic. A LOT of that traffic is headed to the Chick-Fil-A that's next door.

We've talked about Chick-Fil-A's here and seeing them develop; here specifically with their drive-thru service. Your wife gave you a perspective there.

Get this. The wings place? Gone. Chick-Fil-A? They've bought the property to expand their drive thru ...

(The owner has one of the few restaurants still open in the mall that's across the street. That's not hard to imagine.)

Yeah, they are expanding drive thrus wherever they can. They just did a complete rebuild of one of her former stores this year. We were invited to the reopening. Two lanes, one lane is only for mobile app orders, folks fly through there.

It is an interesting thought. The pickup in drive thru volume is worth more than the entire value of a BWW franchise.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Yeah, they are expanding drive thrus wherever they can. They just did a complete rebuild of one of her former stores this year. We were invited to the reopening. Two lanes, one lane is only for mobile app orders, folks fly through there.

It is an interesting thought. The pickup in drive thru volume is worth more than the entire value of a BWW franchise.

The (old) Northport location is about as landlocked as it could possibly be but they've undergone 2 renovations in the past several years, the last one being an entire rebuild from the ground up that shut the store down for a few months. They did manage to design it in a way where more cars can get in the 2 lines but it's still a complete cluster during the busier times with traffic backing up into intersections. Part of the problem is I'd guess 70-80% of the customers don't use the app and it takes them forever to order, as if CFA's menu rivals the Cheesecake Factory menu or something.

The new CFA that opened up earlier this year on the other end of Northport is massive and has one of those dedicated mobile order lanes you mentioned. Every time I go, there's either no cars or 1 car in that lane in front of me and about 6-10 cars in the regular line. At least they have the room for it though... much larger footprint.

 

[TerryP]

complete cluster during the busier times with traffic backing up into intersections.

Every time I go, there's either no cars or 1 car in that lane

This is what I've mentioned to Tim repeatedly about that wings location: the traffic was so horrible it wasn't worth the bite to eat. ALL because of the Chick-Fil-A and their one lane drive through.

I gotta say this. Even with dozens of cars backed up they still move them through faster than 90 percent of the other fast food places. I gotta say this as well. It's a HORRIBLY designed parking lot. Wings and Chick-Fil-A are street front while the shopping plaza is home to Best Buy, Rooms-To-Go, and now one of the Aldi's. That doesn't mention the 10-14 different smaller retail shops. (That buy one get one at 1/2 off shoe store is in there as well: Shoe Circus, Shoe Carnival...yeah, that's it.)

The ONLY reason I go there is because of a Mexican place and it's always mid-afternoon when no one is eating.

It is an interesting thought. The pickup in drive thru volume is worth more than the entire value of a BWW franchise.

It has to be. Maybe not the franchise fee, but definitely the cost of the lease on that lot.

The CFA is one of those "shoe box styled, free standing" locations. The now empty wings place ... just like any other. I haven't a clue how they intend to incorporate/expand that store. Keep the wings building with a re-fit and tear down the older CFA store?

I'm curious as to when they start construction with the holiday season at our doorstep. It was messed up in the past...lord knows what construction and Christmas traffic will look like.

 

[TerryP]

@Rsedge72 I've seen this video a few times. In fact, I think it's posted in the video thread here. But...

Seems like a good idea of you're looking...it's tempting to me for outdoor things; literally. A battery powered back hoe loader for my landscaping beds, garden, etc.... eheheh.

 

[Rsedge72]

That’s awesome!!!!!!!!

 

[It Takes Eleven]

It has to be. Maybe not the franchise fee, but definitely the cost of the lease on that lot.

The CFA is one of those "shoe box styled, free standing" locations. The now empty wings place ... just like any other. I haven't a clue how they intend to incorporate/expand that store. Keep the wings building with a re-fit and tear down the older CFA store?

I'm curious as to when they start construction with the holiday season at our doorstep. It was messed up in the past...lord knows what construction and Christmas traffic will look like.

They'll likely tear them both down, no way they incorporate the BWW building.

There are no CFA franchises, just operators who pay a pittance to get in - not sure what it is now, but likely less than $50,000 (it was just $5,000 some years back). Two high performing stores can provide the operator with an income safely in seven figures.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

@Rsedge72 I've seen this video a few times. In fact, I think it's posted in the video thread here. But...

Seems like a good idea of you're looking...it's tempting to me for outdoor things; literally. A battery powered back hoe loader for my landscaping beds, garden, etc.... eheheh.

That's pretty neat. I'm guessing he's up north and the exterior footings are dug deep to escape freeze. The interior pillars look to have been about as deep as you'd see around here, can't see what his post is sitting on. Do that with a standard conventional crawlspace around here and you'd have a problem.

 

[TerryP]

There are no CFA franchises, just operators who pay a pittance to get in - not sure what it is now, but likely less than $50,000 (it was just $5,000 some years back). Two high performing stores can provide the operator with an income safely in seven figures.

I knew that. Like O'Charley's close to that location; a GM that has skin in the game.

I've heard their initial fees are still low. The last number I saw was a fifth of what you suggested: 10K. I'd think there is a liquid assets 'clause/requirement' of a quarter of a mil or so. In a manner of speaking it sounded a lot like the way Subway opened: leasing the equipment, percentages of sales return to "franchisee," etc. A rental agreement almost.

They'll likely tear them both down, no way they incorporate the BWW building.

That's going to require a lot of work: quite an incline through there.

 

[PurlJam]

What part of Texas are you stuck in?

 

[Rsedge72]

What part of Texas are you stuck in?

Abilene!!!
Hot and dry!!

 

[PurlJam]

Abilene!!!
Hot and dry!!

Oh yeah, I'll be around 160 miles northwest of you at the end of the month (Lubbock).

 

[Rsedge72]

Oh yeah, I'll be around 160 miles northwest of you at the end of the month (Lubbock).

I originally planned to have a day or 2 while I was up here of free time. I was going to check out Lubbock and the TTU campus, but I haven’t had more than an hour or 2 free since I’ve been here