Okay ... well ... welcome to the forum mmerlin!
It is a lot to take in all at once. With 45 years in the biz ...your sense of how aluminum will move is probably spot on. The success of your business hinged on your ability to make good business decisions. Good calls yielded good results. Incorrect calls yielded negative results and loss of market share to your competitors ?
In the midst of all this ... you are like a sparrow in a hurricane. You are subject to global economic mega forces & trends that you have absolutely no control over.
It's no easy thing to run a business. Sounds like you had a pretty good run.
I would just offer this opinion / observation:
The trend i've been seeing all across all business sectors is a process of small to large. The little fish got swallowed up by the medium sized fish. The medium sized fish got swallowed up by the big fish.
It's very difficult for the little guy to compete with the big dawg. The big dawg has the advantage of economy of scale. He can operate on a razor thin margin of profit.
The little guy eventually weakens and falls by the wayside because he's not geared up to compete in that way.
It's the end result that matters most in business ?
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