What have you been up to the past two years? With no payments and limited spending opportunities, something's wrong if your savings didn't massively increase.

I just started reading this thread, I think a lot of what you're feeling is felt by so many.

The examples you posted about your boss, I deal with the same thing on the daily, I'm more about trying to build long term relationships because that's what I've found to work best to get me work and win projects later.

My boss tries to squeeze everyone, a few months ago we lost one client we've done some very profitable work for over the last few years because my boss was being a greedy prick on changes and not working with them, they want nothing to do with us, they took away a project they were going to award me and removed us from their bidders list.

We have another project we're working on, just started its probably a year long project. He's on holiday's and asks me to put in a change for him well he's away (He's pming this project) which is fine but he tells me the hours he wants me to charge them. I start arguing with him that we can't charge that, it's ridiculous, probably 4x what it's worth. He tells me to put it through anyway, I'm like fuck ok. Next day my phone starts blowing up, questions what's going on here why is this so high? A day later my email blows up from one of the higher ups for the this contractor that I've built a relationship with, I think his words were "this is fucking bullshit". I have to tow the company line and try and defend it hating fucking life and pissed off I got put in this position to begin with.

Sometimes I get bored at work and like you I really don't have any more movement I'm at the top of where I can get to other than taking my bosses job which isn't coming available anytime soon. I think about leaving and trying something else but they pay me well, let me work from home and let me pick what I want to work on, it's so hard to leave.

I had an opportunity 3 years ago to go out on my own with the perfect partner and turned it down, I think that decision is the one that I'll always wonder what if.

So true lol my friend was working for Kyocera as account manager, actually lasted 2 years but decided to quit cause dead end job. High competition, low commission structure. Referred him to BMO instead lol.

My take is, if you want to take on a high risk high reward career, earlier the better. You already see the downsides when you are married, have kids, mortgages, etc. These things hold you back from taking the leap. But at the same time, definitely research and plan it out. There are many high risk high reward jobs you can do. Also don't let the slow market hinder you. In fact, it's easier to set up when markets are down. You have more time for meetings, sales planning, doing actual customer service, and personal training. If you jumped in when markets are hot, you'll be scrambling to complete tasks and sales and maybe up losing sales.

This is why I also taken the leap and became a mortgage specialist. These days even though things are slow, I actually have the time to develop relationships, hang out with realtors and other advisors. This will in turn provide long term stable growth.

I realize this thread has likely turned away from the automotive industry but as a GM in automotive retail I will still give my rambling thoughts in case anyone else is considering the field

- Working in sales you feel like all your peers are your friends. But more often then not there will be sharks on the floor who steal your leads and will do anything to get a commission and that includes stepping on you. Cliques can form. Drama can ensue.

- There are great customers but there are also horrible customers. Demanding, rude, and disloyal. Expectations are that you respond to their call or text at the drop of a dime. They are quick to try and deleverage you so they can try to gain an upper hand in the sales interaction. It's disheartening how some people feel they can treat product advisors because of their own perceptions of the industry.

- Management can be good. But management can also be absolutely horrible. Sometimes the guys who stuck around the longest or sold the most eventually become sales managers. That doesn't mean they are at all equipped to deal with having staff. If the sales manager is good - they may not last long as they get plucked and moved along to another store/role. This happens a lot in the multi-rooftop dealer groups. I'm not even going to get into the typical tension between a sales department and parts/service department trying to get things done for your deliveries.

This combination of fellow product advisors/customers/sales management can really ruin a day for you.

In addition to these factors, it is a tough time to be in the industry. There is an inventory storage. You can't sell from an empty cupboard. While factory orders are great, you are only paid when the car arrives and it is rolled. Used cars are scarce and dealers are having to overpay to bring in cars. If your sales manager is a dolt and hasn't done enough research they will often FAR overpay for a vehicle just to show their superiors that inventory is being brought in. When you try to sell that same car commission will be very minimal as there is virtually no mark-up on the car.

Beyond that, from a higher level perspective - I suspect that after COVID, manufacturers will no longer channel stuff vehicles to stores. The overhead of having a large lot with a bunch of new cars sitting and aging may be a thing of the past. There may soon be a world where the Tesla model of retail permeates to other manufacturers. Dealerships will act as order fulfillment and service centers. This may put a squeeze on the product advisor gravy trains that have existed. There is already a squeeze occurring on finance managers and I imagine this will continue downstream.

Kev

Couple of q's, how much do you think you'd need to afford a kid? I feel like my mindset around this might be wayyy too high. I grew up in an immigrant family where nobody was home until 8PM, the food was essentially whatever was cheap and quick. Not every healthy and mostly processed. So my idea of having kids requires being able to feed kids the same as what I am eating now. Then if I add all that up the numbers don't make sense.

In regards to SKIP and UBER, from 2020 to 2021, me and my brother did that after work for fun. We were using 3 phones and doing multiple orders at once and managed to average $45/hour for the dinner rush hour every night. This died down to about $30 - 35/hour and wasn't worth it for us anymore considering gas and car depreciation. But it was pretty cool to pocket $120 - 150 extra every night which added up to around extra $400 - 800/week working 3 hours a night 3-5 days a week.

I know there are tons of immigrants that are grinding Uber Eats 7 days a week and clearing $2k/week working 65 hours. Uber driver averages $35/hour and is probably better but when you get that ride for a pick up on 318 East Hastings LOOL.

^appreciate the info Gerbs

and i do have some savings in my account, i guess what i'm saying is i'm sitting on the $ to upgrade to bigger place to live/have kids vs travel/enjoy life vs get 2nd side job and enjoy both?

Reminds me of my brother in law when I read what you wrote. He has a house with mortgage, works two jobs. Never made sense to me as he's single in his 40s, and doesn't feel he needs to change his life (doesn't travel, spend etc.). What's the point of accumulating all this wealth, might as well just enjoy it now when young; otherwise, he's just gonna be forced to pass it down to his sister when he retires (which is my wife) LOL. Can't take it with him, plus he's frugal (chances of him blowing all his wealth is slim to none).

I don't think any of us are ever ready in life for everything because there will never be a "right time" for anything. If we all knew the "right timing", we'd all be rich and not need to work. Just have to sit down to reflect, will you regret this in 10-15 years down the road what you didn't do (that's what I'll ask myself). This would tie in with the OP situation, will he have regrets if he stuck this through at his current employer. Once you get even further in older in age, you start to not want to take risky moves as the time to recover is diminished; hence, why young folks YOLO everything when they are young.

This is a good thread and is one of the reasons why I continue to come back here after all these years.

I’m 40 years old and have jumped industries twice in the past 5 years. I have gone through a similar situation as the OP. For background, I spent 13 years in the public sector and had a defined benefit pension, benefits, job security. However, once I became a father 7 years ago, I started to grow disillusioned with my professional development and asked myself, “Is this all I’m going to be?”

I see that many here are preaching safety and risk-aversion, but I also think that the world our parents had is vastly different than the world we have today. At some point, you have to take calculated risks. I have switched industries twice, all the while putting two kids through daycare and trading up our home.

It’s tough as the single income earner, I get that. I firmly believe that any decisions relating to your career have to have the full support of your spouse. On the other hand, your spouse also needs to share all of the burdens that are necessary to run a household in the modern age. There is significant value in having a stay at home parent, but there is also significant value in having two working parents today as well – not just from a dual income perspective, but to provide role models for your kids and also to have the ability to take calculated risks when it is necessary in your life. Whatever you do going forward, I would encourage you to have a conversation with your spouse about ways in which she can transition back into the workforce. It’ll take the pressure off of you and it will probably allow your wife to grow mentally and professionally as well.

I would not be so dismissive of the notion that your wife will not make enough money to pay for child care expenses (at this point in time, you only require before/after school care which is significantly less than daycare for toddlers). Even if your wife is netting a thousand or so a month after child care and transportation expenses, having her earn income is beneficial for your household in the long run as she’ll be contributing to CPP which will increase your overall income in retirement. You will also increase your buying power should you ever decide to upgrade your home in the future. The labour market for less experienced people is still very strong and you’ll find that organizations are still very much after people who show up on time and can at least put two sentences together and will easily pay 50K per year for those skills.

It's your own life too. I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that one shouldn't sit-still just because of life circumstances.

We live our life in chapters. I'm a firm believer in that. We have to take calculated risks and sometimes the end-game won't necessarily be more money. But I just can't fathom feeling stagnant or complacent in life because of an obligation to others.

I spent the first chapter of my career as an accountant. I actually enjoyed it as I was in the auto industry and got to experience the growth of a large dealer group through acquisitions and new store openings. Worked on many projects, grew our team and took a lot of pride in my work. Thought I would be an accountant forever due to the time investment of becoming one.

One day I was helping another General Manager set up his new store with budgeting and forecasting. Out of the blue he asked me if I ever considered being a sales manager. I refused and refused. Self-doubt is a powerful dream-killer and I hadn't sold a car in my life. He persisted and one day I thought - well, this person wants me enough so I at least won't get fired trying this.

Two years later he quit and put forth my name to be a GM. I was two years removed from being an accountant and thinking that was going to be my career forever.

Spent four years as a GM and threw it all away again - great pay, gas card, luxury demo and lengthy career with a great organization...decided to resign and try something new by opening a new business. It's been over 2 years of doing this now and I have to stop and think sometimes - how the heck did I get here?

Your life is too short to wonder what-if? If you have enough drive and truly want something then don't seek opinions. The timing isn't great right now, but you can't time everything in life.

Kev

Check the City of Burnaby job site, they're hiring quite a few in laborer/city worker positions.

My friend is one of the head hiring managers there and I recently helped a friend get a job with them.

If you need any help, let me know.

I don't think OP is the type to consider trades or manual labour.

I don't know if it's because of the high housing cost here but I noticed from my travels that a lot of people in Vancouver want safe/unionized jobs like public sector etc. I don't know if it's cause they need a steady source of income to service the massive mortgage payments but either way I think it stifles risk taking. In Calgary/Edmonton with its lower COL, I notice way more entrepreneurship/changing career/risk taking etc

Another thing I noticed is that people really don't want to leave Vancouver to improve their QoL. "My friends/family here" "The winter is warmer here" is nice and all but you can't enjoy it when you're stressed from low pay.

Thanks Mike, but your name + let me know... ahh the good old days. You never know, you will get a PM from me in 3 months hahaha as I burn thru what little savings I have.

I don't want to be a broken record. But thank you everyone, really. And I am glad this thread helped out a few fellow members too.

Can you imagine signing up for Revscene in high school and now getting life advices. And not a troll in sight haha.

Industry wise, I do want to stick to automotive if I can. Not sure how my education and skill set can get me anything else within the auto industry.

But yes, if I do decide to leave. I will defintely leave on good terms.

I don't know why, that question stuck out to me from Badhobz, you will be suprised to know that my work computer is Win7 with i9-9900k, 2080 and 32GB of ram. It's just that we run the system super lean, with all effects/visuals turned off haha. But yea, when you are opening client's 10GB illustrator print file... and want to make 1 stupid change....

ahhh makes sense. i thought it was like windows XP or something. hahaha

This place is amazing. I also signed up initially in highschool (but i forgot the login) and it used to be a very very different place. Now its just full of old-ish men who are full of wisdom and have nice families.

Can someone get me a job at the govt, pls.

I'm burned TF out. Been 3.6 years since I've had a single day off.

Why troll ? Why ? Why do dis

*Gestures in the general direction of apartments/condos/houses

Donk has entered the chat

A govt job isn't going to get you a house in Vancouver no more.

No, but you can make the same money doing jack all. You have to murder your co-workers to get fired in govt.

Might just get a slap on the wrist for that. :suspicious:

Not too hard i hope, I might take stress leave for 6 months.

Want to be an automotive painter for public transit?


$45/hr plus benefits plus public service pension

:badpokerface:

Just tell’em you spray and prayed a lot in fps. Must be relevant.

Take it from a Car sales guy, if you were to start now, you would spend a lot of time away from your family investing in your book of business and selling cars to make a living.

Pay plans are shrinking, work is increasing, and expected volume targets are higher each year.

In a nutshell, if I were you, I would stay away.