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I operated my own vehicle recovery company here in the Toronto area for about ten years in the 1990's. My clients were car leasing companies, who had customers who for various reasons had stopped paying for their leased cars. Obviously when you lease a vehicle you never own it, and the registration lists the car dealer as the owner of the vehicle.
I had been working as a Private Investigator , and my boss gave me a file that involved a guy who had taken a $250,000 advance to build a office building. He used the money for his own debts, instead. The client hired our PI company to find him and serve him with court papers . In the process of trying to find him I learned that he had 4 vehicles leased from a big GM dealership in north Toronto. I met with the leasing manager and asked him for any info about the guy I wanted to serve with the court papers.....His reaction was immediate. The guy owed them about $6000 in missed lease payments !
We made a deal, if I found the deadbeat, I would call the dealership and give them the address where he was living. They gave me all the info they had on him. A week later I found him. At 6AM I served him, and all of the cars were towed away to the GM dealer. The GM dealer's leasing manager gave me a $1500 thank you check for my efforts. I asked if they had any more " problem accounts " that I could help them with ?
I quit the PI company, and started working repo files. I did it all. Tracing the skips, working the phone talking to friends or family, the employers and the banks. Once I had a firm location, I would go out and look for the vehicle. Once found, I would call my tow truck guy. Hook up and then give the person a few minutes to clear out their personal stuff out of the car then tow it back to the dealership.
My motto was....No recovery, no invoice, but when I bring it back, pay me the next day, please. At that time my standard fee for a local recovery was $500. If I had to go out of town I charged 50 cents a mile . My best week was 9 cars in 7 days.
Working alone was great. I had no schedule, no set hours, and no body was on my back. Results were all that mattered. I eventually sold the business to 2 retired Toronto cops for a nice amount. They are still in business today.
Professional hit-man. It's best if you work alone, the fewer people who know what you are doing, the less risk you have. Get paid cash (or other valuable consideration) up front and never even have to meet the client. Good gig if you have the stomach for it.
Tried that- Failed!
Kept messing up the secret code words, ended up taking out the wrong Llama.
If I could do it all over again that's what I'd be. You're not a dermatologist dealing with people and scheduling. You're the guy in the lab looking at samples the dermatologist collect. You can charge $40 per sample and look at 100 slides a day and literally make $1mm a year without any boss, any tight timelines, or dealing with people.
If I could do it all over again that's what I'd be. You're not a dermatologist dealing with people and scheduling. You're the guy in the lab looking at samples the dermatologist collect. You can charge $40 per sample and look at 100 slides a day and literally make $1mm a year without any boss, any tight timelines, or dealing with people.
Not saying it's not a good career path, but wouldn't someone need to have a calling for this type of work, given what needs to go into preparing for it? I got the feeling the OP is looking for a career now. Wouldn't this require at least 8+ yrs of study, including medical school... if he can be accepted? That's a long time, a lot of work & $$$ for the science minded folks.
My niece works in a lab with samples. She has 2 AS degrees... was a vet tech for 10-yrs (at times working with exotic animals at wildlife refuges), then tired of working with owners (particularly having to legally hand back abused animals to negligent owners), went back to school for 2-yrs & became a lab tech.
She made $60K+ with the 1st, $90K+ with this new career. I don't know the ins & outs & if her salary is based on 10-yrs of health work... but, she's now in a lab at a hospital dealing with samples & whatever other techs are beside her... no more client contact.
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Originally Posted by otterhere
Medical transcriptionist? I once trained for that job for just this reason, LOL.
I recall a time when this schooling was advertised in the Sunday classified job section... way back when, when we bought the Sunday paper for job hunting. Is it a certificate program (like 3-6 mos of study) or is it an AS?
May I ask did you try the job & not like it... did you complete your training & how long/$$$ was it? Is this job still in demand for those fresh out of school?
If I could do it all over again that's what I'd be. You're not a dermatologist dealing with people and scheduling. You're the guy in the lab looking at samples the dermatologist collect. You can charge $40 per sample and look at 100 slides a day and literally make $1mm a year without any boss, any tight timelines, or dealing with people.
Pfft.
Good luck with that. Making a million dollars a year without dealing with any people?
You think radiologists/pathologists go through as many reports as they can to try and make as much $ as they can?
That's stressful stuff and you're making crucial decisions, conclusions, and recommendations.
You talk about it like it's putting together a Quarter Pounder. You'd be perfect for ownership at my company...
The janitor who did our building had it pretty decent. Came in at 6:30 or so and stayed a few hours. I think he told me he had 3-4 other buildings he did.
He was alone usually except for me and a few others.
I recall a time when this schooling was advertised in the Sunday classified job section... way back when, when we bought the Sunday paper for job hunting. Is it a certificate program (like 3-6 mos of study) or is it an AS?
May I ask did you try the job & not like it... did you complete your training & how long/$$$ was it? Is this job still in demand for those fresh out of school?
I never did; got a job in the same field in which I could also work alone, then went on to finish college. But worth looking into!
In certain respects speech and language pathologist/therapist would be one of the best options. It's just you and the patient mostly. It's also a well paid job with lots of employment opportunities and as low stress as a job can possibly get. The degree courses for it are very competitive competitive though.
Archivist is another good one but it's very very hard to get a job.
Has the OP ever returned, at very least to clarify if he's interested in careers which require many years of training, or even a 4-yr degree?
From what he said, he's looking to transition into jobs with no training or degree (writer, house flipper), unless he wants to get licensed as a general contractor... aside from the apprenticeship with his neighbor, which still requires no schooling.
Maybe you can return, OP, to at least let us know if you're looking for a job working alone for now & then building a career... or if you're planning on using your savings, which you said would last 4-yrs, to go to school?
Any ideas on which way you're headed, OP?
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